A Zoldyck’s Wife
by cleansingcream18
Summary: A Hunter x Hunter fanfiction that tells story about Lady Hidako, a former princess who was betrothed to Illumi Zoldyck(and then she became his wife). It explores about her life from being his fiancee to their early years of marriage, including facing an insane mother-in-law and also about marriage life of couple whose marriage was arranged. [Illumi x OC]
1. The Engagement

**Chapter 1 : Arranged Engagement **

Black hair and a naked female body went inside the water. Her body was frail and her skin was pale, her eyes were small and brown. The water was warm and it smelled like rose. The tub was big, and white, and modern. She wasn't expecting a huge tub, she expected an onsen but not a tub. But, it was nice afterall. She dipped her body inside the warm water.

It was her first bath at the Zoldyck mansion. She was required to stay at the mansion before her marriage to her betrothed, Illumi Zoldyck.

Hidako was young, but old enough to bear a child. She was raised by an Azian old man, frail, rich, with affinity towards old literature, especially the erotic ones which he shared with Zeno Zoldyck. An old friend of Zeno Zoldyck. The man was an assassin when he was young but he retired will all the fortune he owned, he had an underground business.

Hidako was adopted, the man was barren. He had no child and then he was diagnosed with deadly disease. He thought he was indebted to Zeno for his fortune was mostly because of Zeno's help and he gave Hidako to Zeno as a gift, to marry Zeno's eldest grandchild, Illumi. Zeno fancied Hidako a lot, the perfect obedient Azian beauty, with voice so soothing when she read the stories inside those classic literature and displaying them using her nen.

When Hidako first saw him, it was like she saw a doll. His eyes were black, like there was nothing in it. He was slightly paler than Hidako and his hair was black with purple sheen, slightly lighter than Hidako's jet black hair. He was taller than Hidako and he was stoic, expressionless. Hidako could see Silva's pale skin in Illumi and Lady Kikyo's face feature in him. Sometimes Illumi radiated eerie horror aura which sometimes startled Hidako but it was nothing she wasn't familiar with.

She met older men with even stronger nen users coming to her reading, just to witness her reading including those cursed nen-books from the ancient times. She was a nen user herself, whose nen was mostly used because she would be the only person who could deliver the stories like a movie using her nen. She was projector of those books. A specialist indeed. Sometimes she manipulates people using the projection of memory, creating hallucination that no one wanted to see or to create multiple copies of her so she could escape a dire situation.

A knock at the door followed by a young girl with curly afro hair and dark skin from African descent. She asked if she needed any help with the bathe but Hidako refused and chose to clean up herself and prepared to dry herself. She powdered her face with the color a little fairer than her skin, put on soft pink hue on her cheeks and lips. The black girl helped her putting on her soft pink colored furisode that matches her cheeks and lips. She let her hair up, with a hair accessory on her bun, with soft tresses framing her small delicate features.

The black girl then accompanied her to the dining room. Contrast to the japanese style counterpart where she was staying, the dining room was very European, with French style furniture and chandelier hanging. The room was not as bright as she though. There were windows but the curtains were closed. Probably the room would look beautiful in the morning. There were plates and forks and chopsticks on the table and the way they served the utensils was like one of those expensive European restaurant where they had mat for the plates and few forks and spoons and so on.

There was only few people sitting. There was the corpulent young man, busy playing with his red-colored gaming console, Milluki, she recalled his name. Kalluto, the youngest of them all, wearing a black female furisode. Kikyou, her soon-to-be mother in law dressed in french rococo outfit that looked incredibly uncomfortable. It wasn't the first time Hidako met her in person. Kikyo and Silva came to one of her reading session. Kikyo always caught her eyes prolly because of her visor which she never took off her frantic personality and how incredibly fake she sounded like when she praised her.

Hidako excused herself to sit on the chair. "I guess it is the first time you met my children, Lady Hidako. Well, not all of them. Here's my second eldest child, Milluki and here's my youngest born, Kalluto" Hidako smiled and introduced herself. She was a lady because the man who adopted him was a royalty in the country but she had no idea how come Illumi's mother got the "Lady" in her name. But, like a lady Hidako was, she spoke softly, full of grace towards Kikyou and her children.

"So, is this Illumi's future wife?tch ... boring" The obese one mocked her, possibly because of her appearance that had nothing striking in her look. Hidako always had this idea that men like Milluki would prefer someone bouncier than frail women like her. Kalluto was a decent one. She heard that Zoldyck had no girl in the family but Kalluto was dressed as a girl, with female furisode. She didn't want to offense her or him, she wasn't sure, she kept on being quiet.

"Is Killua coming?" Kalluto asked his mother. "He will come. He's in the mansion somewhere" Milluki replied. Hidako stayed silent. She knew it's better not to say anything during the dinner. She preferred to not make any mess with this family. She knew how strong they were, literally and figuratively. She knew that even that young boy could snap her neck in a second.

The next 10 minutes, she saw a young boy with silver hair entered the room and sat down. He had distinct features compared to the other kids. His skin was pale, his eyes were purple and his hair was silver to the root. He was staring at Hidako, observing her from top to toe.

"So you're Illumi's fiancee? Tch ... you look like mom" Killua commented on Hidako. She had the same frail figure and long black hair. He probably thought that they had the same tiger mother personality as well. "You have a beautiful mother. I take that as a compliment. Thank you" Hidako smiled, even though she knew that from the way Killua talked, it was never because it was a good thing but she was always a people pleaser and she knew that by buying Kikyo's favor would secure her position in the family. Kikyo smiled back at Hidako.

It took few more minutes before she could see an old man walking towards the room. She knew exactly that it was Maha and Zeno Zoldcyk. The ones she met often during the reading.

"Good evening, Mr. Maha and Mr. Zeno. I'm pleased to see you again" Hidako stood up and bowed a little, slowly while smiling towards Zeno. Zeno touched her shoulder and told her not to worry and she should call her grandfather instead of the usual Mr. Zoldyck. Behind her there was her adopted father, a small with short stature, with grayish pale skin and slanted eyes, wearing a traditional Japanese outfit.

They were all seated while waiting for the groom to be to appear with his father.

"Good evening, father" Hidako bowed. Everyone was seated while Illumi and Silva hadn't came out yet.

"You have a beautiful daughter, Mr. Taka," Kikyo said. To break the silence.

"I would have proposed to you if i were as young as Illumi" Zeno chuckled. She realized that they had affinity for oriental Azian women.

She could feel that aura she used to feel during Illumi's presence. Hidako stopped drinking her tea and looked to that side. She could also smell the stench of blood. The thing that this family was probably used to.

There was the father, with silver blond hair and blue eyes and caucasian features, wearing a traditional kimono in blue and her bethroted, wearing purple outfits which looked like as if he came from the circus. He looked exactly like how she remembered him, tall, slender but built with long silky black hair and dead doll eyes.

"Good evening, Mister Silva and Mister Illumi" she stood up again and bowed her head once more.

Illumi was seated next to her. He smelled blood. He must have killed with bare hands, it was clear he tried washing it since she smelled the lavender scent. But, it did not completely erase the smell of blood from him. He was really pale, even paler than her. Hidako tried smiling to him but he didn't flinch.

The waiters started to bring foods to the table. From the appetizer, main course to the dessert. They had Japanese foods on the table and the kids ate silently.

"Mrs. Kikyou, it was a delicious experience. Thank you" Hidako expressing her gratitude to the lady of the house.

Killua looked at Hidako with suspicion and confusion at how "perfect" Hidako was. Or at least how she projected such a "perfect" image in front of his family.

"How's job today, Illumi?" Kikyo asked, with her high pitch voice that could sound incredibly annoying. "It's okay. I murdered a mafia family. The father was a nen user, he put up a fight" he flatly answered it while eating his mochi dessert.

_Homicide_.

Hidako was not exactly unfamiliar with such matter but it reminded her of her very first attempt.

Her memory travelled again to the back of her mind. When she stabbed a knife towards those men who tried to rape her when she was a child. It's necessary to prevent unwanted things happening to her.

The Zoldycks were not a typical family. She knew who they were and she had her own expectations of how the family would be. They're monsters. But, she wasn't an angel and was definitely not a typical woman.

"Let's get to the point now that we've done eating" Silva wiped his mouth and stood up. It alerted Hidako to pay attention to the patriarch of the family. He gave sign to the butlers to show up the engagement exchange items. There were a set of princess Kakin's kimono, a pair of beautifully diamond embellished heels, a pair of jade earrings and necklace surrounded by diamonds which was owned by Queen of Padokia the third and a simple diamond ring in the middle there was a legendary book from East Gorteau "The Beasts of the East". All served on a red table. Nothing attracted her more than the Nen Beasts book, she never read that before.

"We would like to propose to Mr. Taka to give his daughter to marry our son, Illumi Zoldyck" Silva said.

In turn, a butler pushed a table, also in red, on top of it there were books with nen embellished in them, those were Zeno's favorites and a ring with diamond and amethyst, which was owned by a prince from a yordian contient.

The red tables were decorated with origamis.

"Proposal accepted. Proceed" Taka replied.

Illumi and Hidako stood and exchanging the rings. He wore the amethyst-diamond ring and she wore the simple diamond ring. Hidako was expecting Nen in that ritual. But, apparently the family didn't even insinuated any nen ritual for the engagement.

The kids were bored except Kalluto. But, Kikyo and Zeno smiled and Silva was indifferent. Killua kept on looking at his watch, expecting the engagement to end soon.

"The wedding will be in 1 month from now" Silva closed the engagement ceremony.

**Author's Note :**

**First of all, English is not my first language and it's my first time writing a fiction in English. I would like to apologize if i wrote some vocabulary/grammatical mistakes.**

**I always have this headcanon that despite having white/silver hair and blue eyes, the Zoldycks pay a lot of attention to their Asian side, that's why i made the engagement to loosely follow the Asian culture in engagement. **


	2. First Encounter

Chapter 2 : The First Encounter

They all came back to their own room. Hidako came back to her own room, which was styled Japanese, with a huge picture of a tree on the wall. She took off her updo to a long straight hair and brushed them. She was brushing her hair in front of the mirror until she saw a man standing inside the room, from the mirror. Wearing a light kimono in dark green.

"Your zetsu must be very good. I didn't realize you were here" Hidako continued brushing her hair.

"Father told me to come over to your room and see you" Illumi said, he walked towards Hidako.

"I want to see your nen" Illumi's whispered beside her right ear. She could feel his hot breath on her skin. It wasn't the first time a man being that close to her but it was the first time a young good-looking man would breathe that close near her.

"Do you have any book with you?" She replied. He brought a book with purple cover. "The Lost Island" that's the title of the book.

"Please open which page you want me to read" Illumi opened the book randomly. Hidako saw that he was just testing her. He never came to her reading session. He never witnessed her power.

She sat down properly while Illumi sat 1 meter in front of her. Observing her, from her dark silky hair to her pale pink lips and her frail figure.

"Page 45. Chapter 5. The blue arowana. The size was approximately five horses combined into one. The first time i met it, it was trying to eat frogs around it. The fish lives in group near the waterfall. They liked clear water"

What was could only be imagined was seen and felt by Illumi. The crystal clear waterfall. The coldness of the water. The fins of the fish. It was like he was inside the book, experiencing it. Illumi moved forward, trying to touch the fish.

"But the fish is untouchable. The fish has electricity roaming thorough it's body. If someone touches it more than 1 minute, their body will be burnt"

Illumi could feel the spark of electricity on his finger, he quickly took back his hands off the fish.

Illumi smiled. She was really a perfect gift. A nen so flexible she could do a lot of things with imagination so vast, she was a gem.

"I tried catching the fish using a plastic nen-infused rod with frogs as bait. The fish took it and i managed to pull it to the land. The fish changed its size, it became small, as small as regular arowana. It was still alive, still moving, still splashing"

Illumi tried to capture the fish using his hand. He could feel his hand grabbing the fish. Wet and alive. He tried crushing the fish but nothing happened.

"Illumi could grab the fish because i let you. You couldn't kill it because i didn't let you"

Hidako interrupted Illumi's attempt. She closed the book.

"My power work by creating illusion that affects people here" She explained while pointing her head using her index finger.

Illumi looked at his hands. They're dry, the splash, the water, which felt real wasn't real at all.

It was just hallucination. A very vivid one.

"What are the requirements for the nen to happen?" He asked bluntly. Dark eyes staring into her brown eyes.

"No. Not now. Later, i'll tell you after we're married" She smiled, gazing at his eyes with softness and slight flirtatiousness.

Illumi remembered that her hyper-realistic story-telling ability was also used to pleasure old men, some of them must be perverts who wanted her to portray the sickest imaginable things in the world, like those old Japanese scroll Illumi saw in one of his missions that portrayed two octopuses pleasuring a woman using their tentacles. That explained her flirtatiousness towards Illumi. Usually, when a woman became flirty towards Illumi, he would feel nothing. But, there's something really exciting from Hidako, most part of it because of her unique nen.

"I suspected the water played some kind of contribution towards the size of the fish and their electricity but then i tried putting the fish in regular water but it doesn't change its size. I tried adding nen flow into it but it doesn't change. But, once i threw it back to the water. It changed its size" she continued reading.

The whole thing played like a movie, like a small waterfall in front of him, behind her.

"That's enough" Illumi replied her. She closed the book. No more coldness from the waterfall, no more the smell of forest and fish, no more fish.

"I want to bring a gift for you. It's personally from me" Illumi showed a small box for her. It was a green velvet box. Inside it there was a emerald-embellished hair accessories. A hairpin.

"It's beautiful, Illumi" She spoke to him. Their hands touched when she accepted the box. Hidako would've blushed if she was the blushing time. His hands were cold. But, they felt soft and ... young. So different from the hands of the old men who came to her reading session or the hands of her father.

She admitted Illumi was attractive. Physically. Maybe it was because of those tales of long haired young generals in the old Gortese romance books she read that always made her squealed when she was alone. Very few of her clients were women who liked her to read romance stories and one of them was this Gortese tale about a forbidden love story between the long-haired general and the princess. Illumi was exactly how she imagined how the generals would look like, except that they had lively slanting eyes. But, Illumi's dark huge doll eyes had their own charm, Hidako thought.

"Thank you," Hidako said to him. The man stood up, took the book with him and left the lady alone in her room.

Hidako was impressed by Illumi. He was not as bad as she thought he'd be. She thought at first being with Illumi meant that she would be with a machine who's made to do its job mercilessly. He was cold, even his touch was cold too. But, he was not as cold as she thought he'd be.

Hidako never expected that her step-father would choose someone young for her to be married to. She was expecting an old man who's going to die soon so they could get their money and expand their influence. But, the assassin family was definitely a surprise for Hidako. She was expecting a mafia family. But, marrying into assassin family gave them even deeper access to the underground world, would also probably give even more access to the unknown world knowing that Illumi Zoldyck's a professional hunter.

It was another day at the mountain and it was a cold morning. Hidako woke up to a knock at the door. Hidako stood up and opened the door, while still wearing her sleeping kimono. A blond male butler with eyes that looked like as if he had not slept for days and with name tag "Hishita" showed up with a small folded white carton letter and a bouquet of flowers, mixed of roses and baby's breath. The blond man helped putting the roses in the table in the room while Hidako opened the letter and read it.

"The test starts now. I'm expecting you at the flower garden at 10 AM"

With regards,

Kikyo Zoldyck.

A hand-written message from the future mother in-law. A test? As expected before, Hidako could see through that Kikyo's a hysterical borderline-insane woman who's obsessed with her children and also very controlling. She's an Azian woman too, just like Hidako herself, who perhaps had certain kind of crazy attachment towards her first son, like most Azian mothers, who would want a perfectly obedient wife for her son.

"Lady Hidako, please excuse me" Hiashi politely said to her.

"And i wish you luck" He added before he closed the door.

**NOTE :**

**So, the fanfic will pretty much delve into some of Asian cultures with some Hunter x Hunter factors and fantasy too. I was actually confused which category should i put Hidako's nen in, i wanted to put her as conjurer but her ability is more like a specialist but it's still confusing to me because what she conjured was hallucination that could only affect the mind but not the body. If any of the reader does not mind, please help me in categorizing her nen type... thank you very much.**


	3. The First Test

**Chapter 3 : **

**Test**

Hidako dressed up with the help of the girl butler named Canary. She chose to wear the light blue furisode that day in her meeting with Kikyo at that garden.

It was a beautiful garden with its own green house. The garden received a lot of sunlight compared to the other parts of the house that Hidako had known.

The garden had many flowers and plants, in various colors and types. Including those that look odd, there were those who look like venus trap but came with weird colors like blue and some other plants she had never known.

"Lady Hidako, Mrs Kikyo is waiting inside the green house" Canary said, breaking Hidako's concentration to the "blue venus trap".

Hidako came inside the huge green house and there was a fake waterfall inside it and bridge and fake river and so many flowers inside. Kikyo was there, wearing her usual roccoco dress but in pink, sitting while drinking tea from a decorated porcelain cup.

Hidako walked to Kikyo's table and let herself be seated in front of her with the help of Canary who helped in pulling the chair for her.

Kikyou did not talk to her immediately, she just sat there, she took another long sip of her flower-scented tea and did not talk for another minute.

Hidako just sat there, waiting for her future mother in law to say something to her. But, Kikyou was just minding her business, not caring about the woman in front of her.

The silence made Hidako uneasy. It was obvious to her that Kikyou wanted to assert that she's the ruling woman in the household and never Hidako.

After few minutes of tea-sipping from the future mother in law, Kikyo started to talk.

"Stand up, Lady Hidako. Today, i'll introduce you to the plants and pets of the Zoldycks" Kikyou said, not even offering the young woman a cup of tea.

Kikyou walked outside the flower garden greenhouse and heading to the darker part of the place. Hidako was following her steps. When the butler followed them, Kikyou waved her hand to signal that she did not want to be followed by the butler.

They walked together until they were in the middle of the forest. It was slightly colder than the garden, and darker, with higher humidity. Hidako could feel chills, it was colder than she had expected and her furisode was definitely not thick enough for such weather.

From the even darker part of the forest, Hidako saw a pair of black eyes and purple fur.

That day, Hidako met their pet again. An incredibly huge wolf named Mike. The fur was in strange purple and he had these huge black round eyes. The beast was terrifying. It would get some time to get used to the fear of seeing the beast to the point that she no longer feared the beast.

The first time she had met Mike was when they first arrived in the mountain. Hidako was inside the car when she saw Mike. The gate was opened by someone old, then Hidako's car could enter. She wasn't properly introduced to the pet by the family.

"Beautiful, isn't it, Hidako?" Kikyo patted the beast's body. Hidako who was trembling first, but she continued smiling and nodding. "Yes, it's both beautiful and terrifying" She courtly replied.

"Hidako, could you please play with Mike for a while?" Kikyo asked but it sounded more like a command. Hidako knew Kikyo was probably testing her with the dog.

"Okay" Hidako nodded.

"I'm going to leave you with Mike" Kikyou said while disappearing from her sight in a second. She was so quick in disappearing, like a ninja.

Mike suddenly changed, into the most horrifying he could be. He was barking continuously. As if he's ready to kill her. His mouth was already watery, ready to kill her.

"Calm down, Mike," Hidako said. She walked near to the pet, she tried to touch its fur but just a little touch irritated the Wolf even more. Hidako jumped away from the wolf. She could hear the voice of her furisode being torn by her movement and Hidako hid behind the tree.

She was terrified. The wolf who acted normal towards Kikyou suddenly transformed into a murderous beast. She could feel her heart racing and her breath heavier. She had not felt such things since few years ago. The feeling that god of death would come to her very soon.

The pet's movement made Kikyou realized that the pet could've smelled her. She tried really hard to concentrate despite having her heart racing and her breath heavier, she created a huge meat ball, she made it smelled like any dog food she remembered she threw it away, while running beside the dog. The dog would prefer the ball instead of her. She should keep herself near the meat ball or else the scent and the shape would disappear. Hidako ripped her skirt and she climbed the tree while waiting for the dog to waggle its tail and caught the ball.

Once the dog caught the ball, she jumped on the back of the dog while keeping her nen intact. The dog was rebelling, jerking its body up, down, left, right. "Calm down, Mike!" Hidako shouted. Hidako couldn't stand it moving, she quickly put out a knife from her outfit unsheathed it stabbed the Wolf. It was a Ben's knife and it's fully coated with poison and every inches of the steel was inside the dog's body.

The dog fainted immediately. They both fell on the ground. Hidako got out off of the dog's back and walked on the ground again. Her hair was ruined, her furisode was torn(it then showed her shoulder, a bit of her bra and exposing one of her thighs completely and there were bruises and wounds all over her legs and arms. Hidako took off her hair pin and let go of her long silky black hair. She then went to the Wolf and pulled out the knife.

She was surprised when she saw the white-haired boy Killua standing there in shock. He ran immediately to Mike.

"What the hell?!?Mike!!" Killua approached the beast. His eyes showed horror. He was trying to find its pulse. "You fucking monster!" He shouted to her, his hands were transforming into demon's hands with pointy nails ready to take Hidako's heart out. "I'm ... i'm sorry ..." Hidako tried to calm Killua down, only to get him shouting at her again and then with electricity coming out of his hand.

"Please ... please ... i'm sorry ... i was just trying to defend myself" Hidako fell to the ground. She didn't want to fight the young boy. She knew she wouldn't win and he'd probably going to kill her.

But, when Killua heard Mike breathing. He stopped, the electricity stopped coming out from his hand.

"Let's go Killua nii-chan!" a young girl Hidako had never seen before showed up, her hands emitted nen, and that nen healed Mike's wound its condition was getting better. She was a young girl with long dark hair and dark haunting eyes, even more haunting than Illumi's eyes. Her nen also felt odd, like it came from another world.

The kids walked away, leaving Hidako with the sleeping beast. The boy was staring at Hidako for few seconds, his eyes were clearly sendind the message "don't mess with Mike anymore"

Hidako slowly stood up and walked away. She arrived back at the garden and the butler Canary was waiting for her. She looked surprised when she was looking at Hidako with torn furisode and wounds all over her body.

"Lady Hidako, are you alright?" Canary asked her while running immediately to her.

"I'm okay, let's go back to my room," Hidako replied. She never thought that she would get a mother-in-law who would kill her. Once Hidako reached the room and let the butler go, she closed the door and she laughed, realizing what a dumb girl she was. Underestimating the possible insanity that might happen in the world infamous assassin family.

The day didn't end well. Her mother in law was trying to kill her and Killua hated her.

**Note :**

**So i finished writing the first big reaction of Kikyou towards Hidako. I also added the Ben's Knife in the story, which later on explained on how she got it. The next chapter will definitely feature the family's reaction towards what Hidako did to Mike. Thank you for the comments the comments are things that keep me writing**.


	4. Second Test

Chapter 4 : Second Test

_Zoldyck Mansion Dining Room_

It's been a week since the last time she saw Illumi. The "Mike incident" was brought up by Kikyou as if it was Hidako who couldn't handle the animals of the Zoldyck. She was the one leaving her alone with the hungry wolf.

The dinner turned hellish for Hidako and her step-father did not say any word at all. There were Milluki, Illumi, Kalluto, Kikyou, Silva and Zeno. Mr. Taka was not around anymore at the Mountain, he had to came back to his own house for an urgent matter. The kitchen was serving a Gorteau glass noodles, soup and some grilled meats, all cooked in Gorteau style. It was all silence until Silva said something.

"Lady Hidako, Mike was already like family to us and we surely didn't like your way in handling the wolf" Silva raised his voice and stared at Hidako long enough that she had to look down so it wouldn't make him even more angry.

"Darling, shouldn't we send Lady Hidako to torture chamber? We did that to our sons, shouldn't we do that too to our daughter-in-law?" Kikyou cynically said it with her head heading to Hidako. The word torture chamber sent chills to the young woman's spine. She knew the Zoldyck had one but she clearly did not want to be the one tortured there.

Hidako was mad. Under the table her hand was already balled into a fist. Kikyou was the one who set the trap and called it test but then she accused her of trying to murder the wolf. But, she stayed quiet. She had no proof and even if it was a test, the fact that she almost killed the wolf proved that she couldn't handle Mike.

"Silence, Kikyou! She never handled beast before. It's expected for that to happen. She had apologized. You should stop blaming her!"

Zeno's voice was loud and clear. It surprised everyone that Zeno would shout to Kikyou to defend Hidako.

"Apology, father. But ...," Kikyou interrupted the old man only to be replied with a loud clang of a spoon hitting a plate by Zeno which surprised everyone at the table and the situation came back to silence.

"A bride should be unblemished! No one is torturing Lady Hidako. Especially, _you_, Kikyou," Zeno stared at Kikyou and quickly she averted her gaze away.

"Illumi, as Lady Hidako's betrothed, what do you think?" Silva looked at his firstborn and asked the man.

"I like my bride to be unblemished too," Illumi replied calmly and then he continued eating his food. Kikyou felt like she was shamed, her face turned red and she quickly excused herself from the dinner table.

Hidako felt both relief and pleasure seeing Kikyou being scolded by Zeno and having the old man defending her. She was also relieved that she did not have to go to the torture chamber and having that satan-spawn Kikyou Zoldyck torturing her would be another indescribable hell fo her.

Zeno was the only man from Zoldyck who defended her. He was her client for so many years after all and he knew her the most compared to the other Zoldyck. He knew her history and he knew her since she was just a little girl. He was there when she first had her very first reading session.

Kikyou didn't like her at all and the test was just a tool to keep her away from the family. Hidako was wondering was it because of the usual feud that happened between mother-in-law and her first child's wife(because the wife's going to take her son away from her) or it could be because she did not like Hidako at all for whatever personal cause Kikyou had.

After the dinner, Hidako thanked Zeno and she did not immediately come back to her bedroom. She walked to the balcony near the dining room and stayed there, watching the full moon, the pond and the garden below it.

She contemplated about life. She remembered about those younger years when she had not met Taka, when she was a princess of a small kingdom, when the chaos happened to the palace and Taka saved her from the usurper's soldiers,he then took her as his child. The kingdom was then ruled by the usurper.

Suddenly she was interrupted by her fiancé walking to the balcony. A tall dark-eyed long haired Zoldyck firstborn. He was wearing a lavender shirt and long dark purple pants. The wind blew over his hair. She liked the way he looked that night.

"Good evening, Lady Hidako," he greeted her, with a faint smile on his face.

"Good evening, Illumi," she replied the young man with a smile in her face.

The man was quiet. He just looked at the moon with the wind blowing to his face, it caused him to tuck his hair behind his ear. He looked beautiful, his face looked pretty and his round dark eyes looked like it had so many secrets. He was a pretty boy. Hidako wanted to touch his hair so badly but she chose not to, she didn't want to annoy him.

"Illumi, how was your day?" Hidako asked him.

"Another mission of assassinating a mafia family," Illumi said.

"Lady Hidako, why did you agree to the arranged marriage?" He suddenly asked her.

The question pinged Hidako. Why did she agree? Zoldycks were the infamous assassin family. Why would she marry someone from assassin family? She was never the romantic type. Born into royal family meant that you'd have an arranged marriage after all you're expected to be able to marry into a powerful family. You wouldn't have romance in your life unless you're lucky or you had an ignorant husband who did not care about your flings and she knew that while Taka's still alive, there's no way she could go against the old man. She was known as Taka's daughter, Taka, the one who was also came from the palace and ended up working as an assassin, built an underground empire and becoming the biggest mafia in that country.

That led her to the question "Why did Taka want to marry her off to Illumi?" He once said about owing Mr Zeno huge amount of debt and she had no idea what it was. Perhaps it had correlation with it.

"Mr. Zeno has been very kind to me and when offered me his grandson, i couldn't help but to say yes" a bullshit answer from Hidako. Illumi only looked at her with side-eye.

"You know you don't have to do the courtesy. We'll be husband and wife in the future," Illumi made sure Hidako understood.

"Why did _you_ agree then?" Hidako didn't answer, instead she asked Illumi, with the obvious pressure in the word "you".

"I don't know. Maybe because i trust grandfather and everyone agreed. I don't want to waste my time looking for a woman who can fulfill my family's complicated checklist," Illumi replied.

"Were your parents' marriage also arranged?" Hidako asked Illumi with curiosity in her eyes.

"No, they met during father's mission in Meteor City" Illumi answered the young woman.

"Guess some people really are lucky to find love and marry for love," Hidako put her hands on the rail of the balcony and just stared at the moon.

The wind blew harder and colder, as if it was giving a sign that they should go back to each other's room. Illumi clang his arm to Hidako's shoulder, grabbing her shoulder with his arm. It was the first time Hidako felt the texture of his arm and shoulder. It made her shiver, it was cold. He's colder than most people she had known.

"Let me walk you to your bed room," Illumi said. Hidako nodded and replied him with soft "thank you"

Then they both arrived in front of her bedroom. Hidako was standing near the door and she was facing Illumi, the man was a lot taller than her and she had to tilt her head up to look at his face. Those angular jaw, the pale skin, the dark eyes, and straight soft long hair was facing her and he was looking at her. He brushed his hair from his face, tucking it to his ear. He had this delicate touch in his look that mesmerized Hidako. Hidako could feel that he was staring at her lips.

It was so abrupt for Hidako when his (surprisingly) warm wet lips touched hers. His lips were soft and so were hers. It was a quick kiss and no tongue involved. He had closed his eyes and Hidako slowly closed her eyes too. She should have her heartbeat faster but she didn't, instead she felt calm and comfort in his kiss.

Illumi broke the kiss. Hidako looked dumbfounded, that made Illumi asked "Isn't that what couples do?"

"Ye ... yes ... it is what couples do," Hidako stuttered.

"Good night, Hidako," Illumi said before he turned his back and walked to the other direction.

"Good night, Illumi" Hidako said before she entered her bedroom with a smile.

_Zeno's room._

It was another day when Illumi came home after a task. Zeno summoned him to his room right after the young man had arrived at the mansion. Zeno rarely summoned his grandchild to his room. The room was dark and there was another wolf-like beast residing in his room, its fur were as dark as Illumi's eyes and its eyes were red like blood.

"Illumi, i know i shouldn't be the one saying this to you. But, i want to talk about your upcoming marriage"

Zeno sounded concerned. The young man stood there, looking bewildered at his grandfather.

"The wedding had been taken care of my mother and the butlers" Illumi replied stoicly.

"Not that part. Would you just please sit down?" It took time for Zeno to adjust himself to having a long talk with his grandson.

Illumi sat down in the sofa in front of Zeno.

"Have you seen Hidako's ability?" Zeno asked, opening the real conversation.

"Yes. I've asked her to privately read for me " the young man replied.

"What do you think?" Zeno stared to Illumi's eyes.

"A very versatile nen. Useful perhaps" Illumi replied.

"Do you know that Mike was almost dead because of her? It wasn't just simple wound. She stabbed Mike with Ben's Knife" The grandpa's statement startled him. She never appeared as someone strong or even a fighter in Illumi's eyes. But, Zeno personally chose her to be his grandchild's wife and no way the old man did not think of choosing a wife who at least knew how to fight and how to raise a child who'll be a fighter.

"Do you want me to put needle in her head?" Illumi asked.

"If necessary, yes. But, i'm pretty sure you won't need to put needle in her head," Zeno answered. Zeno chose Hidako to be Illumi's wife with strong reasons, one of it is because she's someone who's definitely wiser than his first grandchild.

"About your mother. She hates Hidako. I believe mostly because she's not ready to let you go. You're her first and a mother's first child holds a special place in her heart" Zeno said to the young man. Illumi crossed his legs and continued listening to his grandpa.

"And perhaps because she envies Hidako. Hidako's born a princess. Raised in a high-class environment. She's not like your mother who came from a Meteor City. She's too different from her and she will never think that Hidako's suited to be your wife," Zeno explained.

"I understand, grandfather," Illumi nodded.

"I can't believe that i am the one who has to deliver this again. But, with your mother pestering your father and her preventing your father to talk about Hidako to you ... i am the one who will give you this talk. Arranged marriage can be tough. I had arranged marriage too. But, that doesn't mean it has to be a cold emotionless marriage. She's a good woman, you'll have to learn to work this marriage with her," Zeno sighed.

"Do you know how to have sex with a woman during her first time?" Zeno was staring the young man's eyes.

"Yes. The penis enters the vagina until the penis ejaculates" Illumi replied without any expression. Illumi saw the marriage as a mere duty, nothing more. He was at the age when man should marry so they could have offspring and the Zoldyck bloodline would continue.

"It's not that simple. It will be too painful for her. You should touch her on her sensitive spots, kiss her, do things that make her wet. Then you can slid your penis inside her vagina. Do you know where a woman's sensitive spots are located?" Zeno asked him again.

"Yes, i do. It is on her lips" Illumi replied. "Her neck" he continued and he touched his neck. "Her nipples and her clitoris" he said without moving his hand from his neck. The way Illumi said it without any emotion made Zeno weirdly uncomfortable but he's pretty delighted that Illumi knew about it already.

"You're dismissed" Zeno ended their conversation, sending the man away from his room.

The days were truly mundane (except on the so-called test day) compared to the days Hidako had to experience at Taka's places. Sometimes Taka would take Hidako to travel the world, just to enhance Hidako's imagination so she would read and project better. The only thing Hidako wasn't allowed to experience is the sexual physical touch itself. He knew some of his clients are the biggest perverts, he let Hidako see people having sex at early age through peeping hole so she could project better. He even requested her to see sex shows in some parts of the world. For the sake of better nen projection.

Hidako grew up, realizing she had those sexual urges. To feel the touch of man's fingers and the heat of man's body. She suppressed it wholesomely for a woman should be "pure" in order to be respected as a whole.

Contrast to the reading and exploring she had to do in Taka's mansion. Despite hating the young woman Kikyou treated her as if she's her personal assistant in the Zoldyck mansion. Hidako this. Hidako that. She was molding to be the Zoldcyk woman, and also it became reasons for Kikyou to pick on Hidako everytime she even made the slightest mistake and it irritated Kikyou more seeing that Hidako never lost her calmness.

Here came exceptional day. It's been a week since Hidako had seen him, in that balcony. This time they had to eat together again in the family dinner.

There were Illumi, Hidako, Kikyo, and Kalluto in the dining room. Few maids were around to serve the foods. They ate silently. They had duck confit with foei gras for dinner. Everyday was cuisine in Zoldyck mansion. The dessert was almond pudding, a Kakin-based dessert.

When the softness of the pudding went inside Hidako's mouth, she knew it tasted awful. Like it burnt her tongue. She wanted to stop eating it but she didn't want to offense anyone. So, she secretly called the maid and whispered about her complaint.

"Why are you whispering to the maid?" Kikyo raised her voice. She sounded incredibly loud and she looked like she was going be mad.

"My apology, Lady Kikyo. I didn't mean to offend you but this almond pudding tastes unusual, i thought maybe the chef added the wrong ingredient," Hidako replied, her throat felt like it was burning.

"Lady Hidako, _you_ will finish that almond pudding now" Kikyou said while cutting her own pudding and hit the plate with the spoon, creating a clacking noise. Her dialect showed up. It was a dialect that's commonly used in the Meteor city, Hidako remembered.

"Please forgive me for my rudeness, Lady Kikyou" Hidako ate the pudding, spooning big fraction of it so she could finish it quick.

Hidako was the first to finish, only by later followed by her excusing herself to the washroom to purge the meals she had just finished. Her throat was burning, and tears were welling at the lacrimal ducts.

Whatever it was in the pudding, it was definitely not a proper cooking ingredient. She knew they were a family of assassins but the treatment Kikyou gave her was unimaginable for her. Her future mother in law basically tried to sacrifice her to a beast, and then, putting some kind of large dose of toxic ingredient in her dessert. That moment she was crying. After these few weeks of having Kikyou pestering her, that's the moment when she felt like she wanted to give up marrying into the family. But, she knew she could not.

When she opened the door, she saw her fiance waiting for her, wearing his regular green outfit with pins on his chest.

"You passed mother's poison test" Illumi said. There was a small glass bottle with purple liquid in it.

"I was going to give you the antidote if your reaction was worse. Apparently, your reaction was only puking. A lot of people would be dead by now"

The words her fiance said to her gave her goosebumps. If only Taka never trained her with those black bells covered in poisonous materials in her mouth every time she was wrong in her reading session, she would've been dead already. Taka was a monster but she's facing even crazier compulsively obsessed satan-spawn in this family. Who the hell put poison in their foods?

This family's crazy, far from the normal one. No wonder Killua ran away from this family. No one puts poison in their children's dinner. She thought.

"I want to drink the antidote" Hidako moved forward with her hands opened, requesting Illumi to give her the antidote.

"You owe me another reading session" Illumi smirked and dropped the bottle to her hands. Then he left Hidako alone.

Hidako quickly consumed the antidote. All of them, until the last drop. They want her to be like one of them. It was obvious. She remembered Zeno once complained on the way she raised the children, mixing poison in their dinner. He never agreed turning dinner into something that might endanger someone's life. It should be family bonding time, not a time to test someone's immunity to poison.

Hidako stared at the mirror at the washroom. Her eyes were still teary and slightly reddish. Probably because of the poison. She remembered those black metal bells she had to put inside her mouth that burnt her tongue every time she made a mistake. She remembered the voice when the bells hit each other, the clanking voice that gave her goosebumps, how it tasted different every time the bell went inside her mouth, how all of them tasted awful. How some of them were incredibly painful, it was like her throat was torched with fire. How they made Hidako incredibly obedient towards Mr Taka. She understood then that those bells were laced with poison. It felt the same with Kikyo's pudding. She hadn't experienced it for a long time already and then came the pudding.

That night, in her room, all alone, she cried to Mr. Taka by phone only to be replied with "You've done those before. Nothing you never experienced before. They are only trying to turn you into a Zoldyck. If you can pass, they'll treat you nicely. Their children grew up just fine, you'll be fine too"

"I want to go back home," Hidako pleaded, she thought that after all those years slaving herself for Taka, he would at least defend her. Zoldyck family was not an escape, it was jumping into nightmare-land.

"Don't you like Illumi? Do you want to marry some greasy old man who probably would hit you and pull your hair every time you say something he disagrees instead of a young fit man whose outsider meteor city resident mother turned out just fine in the family?" Taka shouted at her. The idea of greasy old man caressing her and making love to her made her nauseous but having your dinner spiked with poison was even more insane.

"I really do not want to hear these childish complains of yours, Hidako" Taka said before he hung up the phone.

Tears came out of the young woman's eyes. She threw her body to the bed, buried her face on the pillow and continued crying.

_There's no escape of this nightmare. _

**Note** :

It's a pretty long chapter compared to the previous ones. Thank you very for the comments, they are the ones that keep me going.

Hidako's pretty much someone contrary to who Kikyou was, she came from high-class society, even after she was raised by Taka, she was still serving at the high-class society. Kikyou on the other hand, was born in Meteor City, raised there by a poor man, never got to touch anything luxurious until she got married to Silva. She would feel threathened if her "lady of the house" position was taken by Hidako and if her beloved firstborn was taken by another woman.

And Yes, it is set after election arc.


	5. Final Test

**Warning : NSFW content **

**Chapter 5 : Final Test**

Those dark round orbs were ones of Hidako's fascination. That pale skin, that long silky hair. She loved. No. She physically desired him. She saw men, young men in her reading sessions but it's rare that a man intrigued her like Illumi Zoldyck.

Since that night at the balcony, Illumi had visited her bedroom several times, under the disguise of "reading session". Every "session" was ended with Illumi coming out of the room hugging and kissing the young woman.

Every time he came into her room for her to read for him, she was excited. He listened fully, those black orbs gazing at her completely. She wanted to touch that pale skin, made him moan her name and let those long finger caressed her breasts. Like men in the erotic tales she had read.

Her body yearned for him. One of the reasons why she endured Kikyo's tests was Illumi himself. She actually enjoyed spending time with the young man.

Every night when he's at the mansion, she would steam her robe and night gown so they would look nice and tidy and put on some lipstick on because he came into her room, she would want him to desire after her too. She never desired any men before him that much, just Illumi, just one person.

Every time she read for him, she would unconsciously batted her eyelash for him. Watching him, and if she were the type to blush, she would blush.

She knew nothing about him. His desire. His dream. How many kids he wanted. What's his favorite foods. He was so quiet. She was so scared she would come off as too aggressive if she asked him too much questions. They've only known each other for a while.

Illumi had asked her to read few books, but his last choice that week made her bothered, she swallowed her saliva when he gave her the book with the title "The Day Before Happiness" , Hidako had known that it was an erotic literature. She suddenly felt warmth on both of her cheeks.

Illumi asked her to open the chapter when there was certain scene there. She was not supposed to feel embarrassed, she had done reading erotic literature before. But, having Ilumi asking her to read one for him certainly made her felt a lot of things. She could only project the characters in tiny doll-size forms in front of Illumi and when she reached that part she felt her body was getting hotter. She would glance at Illumi to see his reaction and he was so calm.

"_She opened her legs, pulled up her dress and, holding my hips over her, pushed my prick inside her opening" _

Hidako stopped reading it and closed the book. She was blushing, her face was red. Illumi on the other side stayed calm, not changing his expression at all. She quitted her projection, she couldn't control her mind of not imagining the man in front of her being the one who was doing the thing to her the way the man in the book was doing to the woman.

"I'm sorry," Hidako quickly politely excused herself to the bathroom. She felt aroused and she felt embarrassed and wrong at the same time.

_A girl should be obedient towards the men in her family. _

_A girl should never expose her lust for sex to any man. Only a whore does that. _

_A girl should keep her virginity intact before marriage._

The sentences about how a girl should be when it comes to sex and attraction rummaged through her head. Her heart beat faster and her breath was rapid, her cheeks felt hot and she wished that Illumi would just leave her alone at that moment.

"Lady Hidako?" Instead Illumi knocked the door of the bathroom while calling for her name.

She wished she could just disappear. But, another knock and another name-calling by her betrothed. His soft gentle voice when he called her name caused her breath even more rapid.

She tried to calm herself and opened the door. She saw him, with his pale skin, his lips, his angular jaw, his toned arms and long fingers which would feel good if they caressed her, and his round huge eyes that felt right as if they were staring right into her soul and she felt tingling in her belly. She was aroused.

She realized she was staring at the young man and she suddenly averted her gaze from him and walked past him without looking at him at all.

"It is already late. It is best if you go back to your bedchamber," Hidako said without even looking at him.

Illumi could sense that his fiancée felt uncomfortable. He was doing that on purpose. He wanted to see her reading the erotic literature. He wanted to know what would happen if she did that. He knew that she had done reading erotic literature on her staged reading session(which was prepared with a lot of practice before) with 5-7 people in the room, with bodyguards around her but she had never done it alone, especially with a young man who's her betrothed

He smirked. _He was delighted. _

Hidako felt strong arms hugging her from back and long fingers touching her breasts. When she looked back, his lips reached hers and they kissed and it was not like the innocent kiss they had before. It was passionate vigorous kisses. His tongue went inside her mouth, touching hers. Hidako couldn't resist Illumi. Her body turned around facing him.

His hand reached the string of her robe and pulled it so the white colored silk robe was opened and exposing his fiancee's body only covered with mini night gown with the same color. The gown was so short and it had plunging neckline that showed her cleavage and the thin material exposed the contour of her nipples. They were hard and Illumi saw that. His hand went inside her gown and directly touched her skin and groped her breast. They were still kissing until Hidako broke the kiss.

"Illumi, please, not now" Hidako said. She couldn't even look at his eyes. She felt like she was going to burst because of the feeling. She never felt such thing before. "Don't you feel the same way with me?" He started to trail kisses to her neck and chest until she frantically moaned.

_A girl is a gatekeeper. Men will always try to release their carnal desire on you but you must forbid them. You will only be seen as a whore if you cannot resist._

Another words from Mr. Taka popped inside her head.

"Is this even alright?" She tried to push Illumi but he kept on holding into her, he even held her even tighter.

She knew if she didn't stop at that point, she could not stop until she and Illumi did it.

Illumi pushed the girl to her bed. He moved to be on top of her, his hand was caressing her head and he bit her neck and chest gently, leaving hickeys on her skin and it caused her to moan. Her legs were in between his legs. She couldn't escape from him at all.

"Let your mind surrender to the desire ... you know you want it," He whispered right beside her ear and his voice sent chill to her spine.

He came back gazing to her eyes while removing the spaghetti string of her gown to the lateral side so he could see her breast and licked her nipple. She moaned again and her hand was on his head. It was the first time she touched his head, his hair was soft.

"Illumi, please," She begged him to stop. The feeling was new and absurd for her. She was aroused. She felt pleasure from that and she felt sinful for that. But, at that moment, she knew she couldn't stop. She was so indulged in their lust. He took off her gown. She felt warmth all over her body when she realized that the man was observing at her body that had nothing but white panties with lace ornaments.

"Lovely," He smirked. He quickly took off her panties and pushed his finger inside her folds. She gasped when he had done that. She felt pain but that did not reduce her arousal.

He trailed kisses from her nipples down to her abdomen and then her clitoris. He licked her and she was shaking, her back arched and she was moaning continuously.

"You're ready," He smirked again after he put out his finger from her folds. It was covered in clear white liquid.

Illumi took off her outfit. The sight of the man she desired not wearing anything aroused her even more. Hidako pulled him closer with her arms clinging to his neck and kissed him, passionately. Illumi broke her kiss and opened her legs and pushed his prick inside her opening. She was screaming in pain. Blood dripping, staining her bed with red color. But, Illumi didn't stop. He even smirked. He was so delighted knowing that his fiancee was a virgin, untouched by any man. He kept on pounding her and her moan went rhythmically with his movement. For the first time in her life, she felt like she was going to burst in pleasure. She found out how orgasm felt like and it happened few times until Illumi was done with himself. He cummed inside her. He was laying on top of her, with sweat all over their bodies. Hidako smiled, she cupped Illumi's face and kissed him.

"Let's take a bath together," He sat up on the bed. Hidako touched his hand and grabbed it. Illumi turned his head to look at her and she nodded.

They spent the night together, bathing together and sleeping in the same bed together. But, before the sun rose, Illumi left her bedroom to come back to his own.

*

It was a week before the wedding, the Zoldycks had this belief that the bride and groom shouldn't see each other's face a week before the wedding day. But, Illumi chose not to follow the rule and went into Hidako's room from thr window disguising as Gittarackur to later on change to Illumi every night to make love with her and went out of the room before the dawn.

They were expected to prepare for the wedding. Kikyo micromanaged every single thing, even to the color of maids and butlers socks. They held the event in the Kukuroo mountain, invited only few of the family acquaintances.

Few days before marriage also came with a letter of request from Kikyo. It surprised her when Kikyou asked her to clean herself and shaved every coarse hair of her body. After she took a bath, she dried her hair as usual, letting her long black straight hair stayed the way it was, and put on a white furisode. In front of her room, there was Tsubone, the butler whom she recalled as Amane's grandmother. She smiled in front of her.

"Lady Kikyo is waiting for you" Tsubone guided her to the part of the house Hidako never went before. The west wing, the Western counterpart of the house.

It was a white room with a tall bed inside it. It smelled like medicine and sickness there. Like it was a doctor's practice. A tall dark-haired man with white coat and red cross sign imprinted on his coat and a mask to cover his mouth stood beside the bed and Kikyo wearing her usual French Rococo dress stood at the other side. The bed was exactly like a gynecologist office bed, with gyno leg holder.

"Please take off your panties, Lady Hidako" the man ordered. Hidako knew where this was going to, but, she wasn't expecting this would be important for a family who saw homicide as a casual matter.

_That's why Mr Taka is so adamant about her keeping her virginity before the marriage._ She thought.

Hidako took off her seamless nude panties. She was filled with anxiety.

"Please sit on the bed and spread your legs, please put your calves on the leg holder" the man ordered. Hidako did as she was requested. The man put a piece of clothing between her and Hidako so Hidako couldn't see what the man was doing in front of her vagina.

While the man was preparing for the procedure, Kikyo moved beside Hidako and whispered to her "Do you think i have no idea what you were reading to those old men? Those tales of impurity and human filth"

Kikyo must have thought Hidako would prostitute herself or at least experienced sex to create such nen.

He slapped a pair of latex gloves on his hands and add lubricant on his index finger.

"Miss Hidako can start inhaling a very deep breath because i am starting now" The man said before disappearing under that piece of cloth.

Hidako could feel a jolt of pain from her anus. She wanted to scream but it just came out as whimper. She could feel a finger in her anus, the more it moved, the more painful it became. It only lasted a minute or two but it was painful. Kikyou smirked already.

"Her hymen is intact" The man said to Lady Kikyo. She faked it. She used her nen to create the illusion of virgin hymen. She's not giving Kikyou the pleasure of calling her a whore or a slut for being not a virgin.

"I guess you're ready to be Illumi's bride. I hope you will give birth to my grandsons and granddaughters in the future" Kikyo said with coldness in her tone. It was obvious she looked pissed. She did not expect Hidako to be a virgin. She then left the room with the doctor, leaving Tsubone's the only person with her.

She imagined what could happen if she was found out not virgin. The wedding would be called off and Taka would probably whipped her hundred to thousand times and put that toxic disgusting ball in her mouth.

Hidako removed her legs from the leg holders and at that moment she felt both relieved and embarassed. No one had ever put her in such display. She felt violated. She put on her panties, sat there, looking at the white wall with blank stare. She never thought that the final test would be virginity test.

**Note :**

**I thank you very much to all of the comments. They are the ones that keep me writing. I always had this headcanon that the older gen of the family(especially Kikyou) was a conservative despite being an assassin family. That's why she used "virginity test" to be Hidako's final test. **


	6. Husband and Wife

**Chapter 6 : Husband and Wife**

The wedding was held in Japanese style, outdoor at the Kukuroo mountain at Kikyo's garden near the lake. There were a lot of flower decoration, mostly roses, in pink and white. It was a sunny day and everything looked very beautiful that moment. There was a small wooden cottage near the garden that was decorated with flowers too.

Hidako was wearing pink lipstick and coral blush with white shiromoku with green gradation hue that morning. She was still inside her bedroom. Taka assisted her that day. He was getting weaker and it showed. Despite, all the thing he had done to her, she felt sad to see him slower and thinner. Leaving her old mansion was also something she feared, living a new life in the mountain with the new family had made her cried.

"A bride shouldn't cry on her wedding day"

No matter how mean Taka was to her. She couldn't help it that she couldn't handle the idea of losing Taka. He was the only one who was there when everyone was murdered, leaving her alone.

"It's time, Lady Hidako Mr. Taka" the butler Amane escorted her to the garden where they held the ceremony. In the middle of the garden, there was a round space decorated with pink flowers and and at the left side of it was a lake surrounded by blooming sakura trees. Hidako thought it looked beautiful, like a painting.

There were only families. _The Zoldycks_. There were some of their cousins, Maha, Zeno and his wife, Silva, Kikyo and all of their children, including Killua and Alluka. Milluki was wearing light blue, Killua was wearing dark blue, Kalluto was in dark purple kimono and Alluka was in light pink one. From Hidako's side, there was only Mr. Taka and his long-haired dark-skinned Azian bodyguard, she had no one but him.

Illumi was standing in the middle of the venue, round place surrounded by rose decoration, near the sakura tree, he was wearing black and white montsuki. Rarely, his hair was half tied up. He looked like those generals Hidako dreamt of.

Step by step, Hidako walked to Illumi, with the help of Amane holding her arm so she would not fall despite the height of her _geta_. Kalluto, who acted as the tea bearer stood beside Hidako and Illumi. The porcelain cup with soft pink color for the bride and other porcelain cup with soft blue color for the groom. Hidako took up the groom's cup and let Illumi drank the tea from the soft blue cup, and Illumi did the same to her with the pink cup. The tea was dark red, and it tasted like iron. It was laced with blood. She was expecting it. Her blood was also taken from her in the morning after all.

"I, Illumi Zoldyck, take Hidako Misamoto as my wife. For everything that come upon, nothing can separate us from one another but death" Illumi vowed while he drank a sip of the tea laced with Hidako's blood in the blue cup which was held by Hidako.

"I, Hidako Misamoto, take Illumi Zoldyck as my husband. I vow to submit to him, take the Zoldyck family name and for everything that come upon, nothing can separate us from one another but death" her vow was slightly longer than Illumi. It was customary for a woman to add the word "submit" in their culture. She took another sip of the blood-laced tea of Illumi's blood.

"For she had drank the taste of his blood and he's done the taste of hers. That moment they both vowed to live for each other. Husband and wife until the god of death comes upon them" Silva spoke up, reciting the classic Zoldyck vow that had been passed down from generation to generation, read by the father of the groom.

"Welcome to the Zoldyck family, Lady Hidako" Zeno smiled and clapped his hands. The others applauded. Kikyou clapped her hands lightly, it was obviously seen in her face that she still disliked Hidako, even after passing her tests. The other siblings were indifferent towards their wedding except for Alluka who joyfully clapped her hands and Kalluto who smiled a little.

The event was continued with family tea ceremony when the couple served tea to their families. They older generation of the family were all seating in a well decorated table in color pink and white and there were soft green porcelain tea cup in each of everyone's place. The couple held the porcelain kettle with soft green color with flower ornaments with rose tea inside of it together and poured the tea to the each cup, one by one. Each cup resembled each older generation family member and every time the couple finished pouring, the member would then thank them and say their advices to the newlywed.

Each one of them gave the newlywed positive advice about marriage life, including growing love in an arranged marriage. Not one felt negative except an advice from Hidako's mother-in-law who was given to Hidako by whispering to her which then followed by a cheek to cheek and smile from Kikyou to camouflage her negative message. Illumi on the other hand got a hug from his mother and a kiss on his cheek.

"You better be a good Zoldyck because now you are a Zoldyck. Illumi's my dear child, you better not disappoint him or else i'll _slice_ that pretty face of yours by myself" Her message sounded more like a threat instead of a good wedding message from the parents. Hidako felt lump in her throat. But, she chose to swallow it down and kept on smiling until the end of the older generation tea ceremony.

When it came to the younger generation, the couple could freely pour the cups without any order and formalities of giving advices. But, they chose to go with the order. They just filled each of Illumi's siblings cups until they're all filled.

Milluki was busy eating all the peanuts, he just smiled for the photo. Beside the plump man, there was the white-haired boy. Hidako felt uneasy when she saw Killua. He's the one who witnessed her almost killing Mike. Killua was staring at her cynically until Illumi stared at him and it made the boy scared and chose to smile to Hidako and get their picture taken.

Hidako saw that little one who healed Mike for the second time, Alluka, who looked like a girl instead of a boy. Alluka looked so cheerful and happy, such a cute one, she thought. Both she and Illumi poured the tea to Alluka's cup and Illumi quickly pulled the kettle even before the cup's full.

"Hidako _nee-san_, do you mind to pour some more tea for me?" Alluka asked using the family honorific towards her newly official sister in law.

"Yes, of course" Hidako smiled and picked the kettle and poured the tea. Illumi who saw that quickly pulled Hidako away after she finished pouring the tea.

"What's wrong, Illumi?" Hidako asked. The family who saw that understood his action.

"You could've died" Illumi explained. "And i can't have you dead" he followed.

"Why, Illumi?" Hidako asked. She looked confused. _How could a child murder her? _

"I'll explain to you tonight. We still haven't finished pouring tea to everyone" Illumi replied while grabbing her hands and directing the kettle to Kalluto's cup. The young boy smiled a little and sipped the tea.

They then followed by pouring the tea to their cousins' cups.

The event was continued with the couple signing for their marriage papers, family photo and reception with more people coming. She saw lot of men from the reading session too, some of them were hunters and men with underground business. She changed to a floral red kimono and she took off her shiromoku hat. The reception was held in the ballroom, decorated in with lots of sakura flowers and waves pattern. They combined western architecture with Azian ornaments. There were musicians with Japanese _koto_, Gorteau drums and another modern instruments, the band had an Azian female singer with face as white as chalk. The reception was opened with the ballroom becoming dark and only few lamps left acting as a spotlight to the entrance, and the band starting to play different song and there came the 8 female sword dancers, dancing with their sword a la Gorteau's _Geommu_. Once they're done, they dispersed their form, standing at two different sides, opening a path for the bride and groom to walk then sit on the stage.

Both she and Illumi sat on the stage like statues while the others mingled with the guests. Hidako could see that Zeno being the one who had the most friends. Taka was also mingling with the guests. She could see that Kikyou always mingled with Silva. While the younger Zoldyck kids were mingling with their own cousins.

The Wedding Night

They both went inside Illumi's bedroom once it's done. It was a lot bigger than Hidako's bedroom. It smelled like sakura and it had huge dressing room with a huge bathroom.

Hidako wiped off her makeup, her skin, almost as pale as Illumi showed up. She took off her dress, only wearing nothing but panties covered with satin robe in front of the dressing mirror. Illumi also took off his shiromoku, exposing his body that's even paler than his face, he took off his pants, showing his legs, he walked to the dressing room only with his underwear.

"So, now, tell me, my wife, what are the requirements of your nen?" Illumi appeared in front of his wife. Resting his chin on her shoulder and his hands on her arms. Hidako surprised that it's the first thing that Illumi asked of her after they got married.

"First, skin contact in 24 hours. Second, 10 meters maximum range. Third, the experience of the user herself builds the hallucination. Fourth, it could only continuously last for 3 hours per 24 hours. Fifth, it could only affect maximum 8 person at the same time and it has to be the same projection" Hidako said while looking at her husband's eyes through the mirror.

"Does that mean that you've been electrocuted before to be able to project that electrifying sensation when you read me about the fish in the beast book?" Illumi asked. Staring as his wife's face through the mirror.

"Yes, Illumi. Mr. Taka used to do a lot of things to me and made me witness a lot of things for the sake of better projection," Hidako answered while putting toner in her cotton pad.

Illumi understood then why his grandfather was so persistent with Hidako being his wife. The mother of the next Zoldyck generation. She was used with the so-called training in the Zoldyck family. She had a unique nen. She's born from a royalty and with her marrying into his family meant that there's a possibility for him to take over whatever kingdom she had her claim to.

"Now, tell what about your little sister ... or brother named Alluka, husband" Hidako requested him.

"She can grant wishes but if you grant his wishes first. But, if you can't grant his wishes, you'll be dead," Illumi explained while moving to the bathroom. Hidako finished wiping her face with the facial cotton and then following her man to the bathroom.

They were washing their bodies in the shower and then both were going right into the huge bath tub filled with warm water that smelled like sakura. The mist filled the bathroom, it felt like she was in a private onsen at that moment.

They were both naked in the tub and the heat caused pinkish blush on both of their cheeks. They were facing each other until she moved closer to her husband. Illumi pressed a button on the tub and suddenly they could feel water pressure that acted as massage to their bodies.

"You haven't clearly explained to me about Alluka," Hidako said to her husband. "Three wishes. Alluka will ask you three wishes and if you can fulfill all of them, you can ask him whatever you want. But, if you can't fulfill even one of his wishes, you'll be dead in a second," Illumi said while changing his position into relaxed position, leaning to the tub.

"What does a little girl ... or boy request?" Hidako moved even closer to her husband. Their legs touched.

"Human organs" Illumi answered. The answer surprised Hidako. The fear crept inside her head again. She got married into not only an assassin family but also a family with insanely terrifying members. Her smile changed to a flat expression. Illumi realized that.

"Are you scared?" Illumi pulled his wife, using his arms circling around her waist, creating splash from the water. Her bottom felt his erection and her legs were surrounding his waist. Hidako did not answer him. She was scared but she did not know if answering "yes" would be a correct answer. She just stayed quiet and kissed him. She touched his erection and stroked it. He stopped her hand and kissed her back passionately.

Illumi carried her and stood and got out of the tub. They both dried themselves with the towel and continued their love-making in the bed.

*

In the morning, Hidako came back to her bedroom. She had not finished packing for honeymoon. She left some of her beauty products and hair straightener in her bedroom. When she was collecting the items, suddenly she heard a scream from Kikyou in front of her room.

"You fucking whore!" Kikyou blasted her bedroom door open. Shocking the young woman with hair straightener in her hand. Kikyou walked fast to Hidako and yanked Hidako's kimono's hemline.

The other hand was holding a white bedsheet. "You used your nen to trick the doctor, didn't you?" Kikyou was frantically screaming in front of the young woman's face. Her scream was enough to shock her and made her felt like crying.

"Mother, what's going on?" Illumi showed up in front of them, wearing a dark green shirt and black pants.

"Look at this sheet! Do you see any blood? If she's a virgin she would have bled!" Kikyou was hysterical. "This woman is a slut!" Kikyou took out her fan out of her pocket and directing it to Hidako's head.

"Mother, Hidako is my wife. You have no right to treat her this way," Illumi walked fast to them and grabbed her mother's arm. The projectile that came out of her fan didn't hit Hidako, instead it shot to the window in front of them, leaving a clean round shaped hole at the window. Illumi's expression was cold and his eyes showed that he's dead serious about what he said.

"How could you" Kikyou pulled her arm from Illumi's hand. She was angry, really angry that her firstborn the perfect obedient son chose _that slut_ Hidako over her.

"Mother, please leave us alone. We have to fly to East Padokea in few hours," Illumi said coldly. His round black orbs staring at his mother's visor. Kikyou felt ashamed. Ashamed that her son would defend his wife instead of the woman who gave birth and nurtured him. Kikyou left the room, with feeling of deep resentment towards the woman who took her son from her.

**Note :**

**Okay, i mixed a lot of Asian cultures into their wedding and added some self-made stuff in this story. I hope you'll like it. **

**I really thank you all so much for commenting in this fic because clearly they are the ones that keep me writing.**

**Yes, Kikyo's a nutjob and so far it's pretty much still a lot about the classic "facing the mother-in-law" issue that happens a lot in Asian families and the mother's attachment to her firstborn son. But, i will add more issues in the stories since they're married now and in the next chapter it is going to be about the newlywed in their honeymoon. **

**Thank you so much for the seakawn, aaroniero, rentzhx3, crazybloodmonkey and all the guests who commented. **

**I also have a question to ask the readers. Since they're married, of course they will have a lot of sex(scenes). Do the readers want more lemon or no lemon? **


	7. Honeymoon

**Chapter 7 : The Honeymoon**

Taldives was a country that's surrounded by water. It's located in East Padokia, near the heaven's arena. It was hot, it's exactly reverse of what Kukuroo would be. Illumi chose to spend their honeymoon at Taldives, an excuse to wear simple clothings.

Their hotel room was connected to the sea, they could swim anytime they want in the sea. He chose Taldives so instead of walking around the city, they could spend most of the time making love inside the hotel room with relaxed mood.

Illumi went to Taldives once for a mission, he remembered that there was a nice bakery at one of its streets. He took Hidako with him. The street was filled with outlets, that moment Hidako saw an outlet selling books and book accessories. A bookmark embellished with stone excited her, she told Illumi that she wanted to look around there first and she'd join Illumi to eat the donuts.

When she was looking around the shop. She could feel a huge hand touched her shoulder. She couldn't feel his aura back then. Was it zetsu? He must be so good it he could conceal to the point that Hidako couldn't sense it at all. Suddenly she could feel a burst of bloodlust aura. It gave her goosebumps. Hidako turned her head to see a smiling face. A man with yellow eyes and red hair with colorful tattoos on his face. He dressed like a clown in the middle of the heat.

"My my so this is Illumi's _story-teller_ wife"

He licked his lips. Eerily. Like he was going to ravage her. Realizing that he had known her reputation as a story-teller meant that he's not someone random.

"Who are you?" Hidako asked, while looking at him with her gyo. She could see that there's a nen sticking to her shoulder. She tried to brush it off but she couldn't.

"Hisoka Morrow. Seems like Illumi hasn't told you for sure. But, we have a very very close _relationship_" He replied. Hidako could feel shiver down to her spine. His presence was creepily intimidating.

"What do you want?" Hidako asked. This man was strong, severely unstable and always seems like he's ready to murder someone. She could feel his aura right to her bone.

He pulled her to his side by pulling his bungee gum. Hisoka's chest was pressed to Hidako's back. She was shocked. She couldn't even flinch. The man's hands were already grabbing her shoulder. She could feel his long manicured nails were starting to prick into her skin, causing her to feel pain.

"Release me," Hidako commanded him while holding Hisoka's hand with hers so he'd stop pushing his nails into her skin. She jolted him with burning sensation on his hand.

Hisoka flinched and yanked Hidako's hand. Grabbing both of her wrists with his hand. Hidako stared back at him. She could see him licking his lips and looking ecstatic, she could feel his bloodlust and arousal at the same time.

"A pretty face and a unique nen. No wonder you're Illumi's wife ... i wonder what will Illumi do if i cut that face of yours..." Hisoka tied the woman in his bungee gum all over her shoulder. Hidako couldn't move. The horror caused her breath went rapid and so did her heartbeat. Hisoka was going to lick her face and Hidako was struggling to get out only to feel even more suffocated with even tighter bungee gum.

Suddenly, three needles with round ball-shaped ends startled both Hisoka and Hidako. Both of them knew exactly whose needles they were. The needles ended landing on the shelf right beside Hisoka.

Hisoka could feel his right ear lightly bled. He was even more excited than before. His grip towards Hidako got even stronger. She could not even move.

"My wife is not a 12 years old boy you like to mess with"

A man with long silky hair tied into one ponytail wearing a relaxed lavender shirt and bermuda showed up with needles between his fingers with decent amount of bloodlust.

"You should have invited me to the wedding," Hisoka spoke to him playfully. Illumi moved to be in front of Hisoka and pointed the needle right in front of Hisoka's eye.

"Release my wife," Illumi said with his bloodlust. It was the first time Hidako saw her husband's turning into a monster. All of sudden, she was freed from Hisoka's nen. She grabbed Illumi's arm and stayed away from the frightening clown. She pulled Illumi's shirt's sleeve, signing that they should just go. Illumi's bloodlust slowly disappeared.

"If you approach her again, i'll make sure that'll be the last time you'll approach her" Illumi said, sternly, with needles in between his fingers ready to be thrown away if Hisoka approached Hidako again. Hisoka only smirked.

Hidako felt frightened by her own husband. She never knew his friends, she had never seen his bloodlust. If that clown really was his friend, she couldn't even imagine what the rest of them would be.

It was silence until Hidako asked him about the strange man.

"Who is Hisoka Morrow?" Hidako asked.

"Ally from work," Illumi answered coldly.

"He said that you had a very _very_ close relationship with him," Hidako said. She felt like her husband was hiding something from her.

"We're just allies from work. Nothing more," Illumi replied.

Then, Hidako chose to stay silent. It was obvious her husband did not want to share their story with her.

Hidako felt intrigued by his statement. Because it is definitely not what Hisoka was implying to her. Even though logically she should believe her husband more than the clown who looked incredibly atrocious with that getup in the middle of the Taldives.

*

Their honeymoon meant that they're expected to give another Zoldyck in the family. Everyday they had sex and it was pleasant for both of them. But, that night after Hisoka approached her, she felt very uncomfortable. Few scenarios came into through her mind, that they were more than just allies, that they're more than just friends. Hidako, being herself, she would try to brush off that unnecessary thought away from her mind since she had no proof about it.

That night, Illumi stroke her from the back after she'd done her night time skincare. She could feel his clothed boner behind her. He cupped her cheeks and whispered to her "You're mine only. No one can touch you but me" Illumi's tone gave her goosebumps. Was it because Hisoka's attempt to _god-knows-wha_t to her?

Hidako gazed at Illumi's dark eyes. "I'm yours, and yours only" Hidako replied while removing Illumi's hands from her face and kissed his lips. She wanted him to be hers too._ Hers only_.

Hidako pushed Illumi to the bed. The man laid down with his back, naked. She licked his nipple in circular motion, leading him to exude a soft growl and she took off Illumi's pants. She saw his boner, protruding with veins. She remembered reading from those old Japanese erotica how woman pleasured men with their mouths. But, those erotica did not have nen in them. So, she chose to be creative.

Hidako projected a tinge of electricity in her finger and when she touched his nipples, he could feel a jolt of electricity in it.

"Hidako!" Illumi gasped. She liked it when she mentioned her name during sex.

"Do you like it?" She smirked while she was teasing her husband while playing with small jolt of electricity in his finger wandering on his skin.

Illumi nodded. She could see faint blush on his cheeks.

Hidako then kissed the tip of his penis and slowly devouring its shaft with her mouth. Illumi squirmed. She bobbed her head for some movement and swirled her tongue around the head of his penis. "Hidako, keep doing what you're doing" Illumi grabbed her hair and pushed her head slowly, adjusting to speed he wanted her to.

She could feel salty taste in her mouth. His precum. She swallowed it. Her eyes couldn't stop looking at his eyes and it was a pleasure for her to see him moaning because of her.

"You're mine and mine only" Hidako wanted to say it out loud but it only came out as soft as a whisper.

Hidako kissed Illumi and then she took off her robe, displaying her bare body to Illumi. He was staring at his wife. She put his penis in her opening and started to ride him. She was on top of him, for the first time.

He cupped her small breasts with his hands while she was moving with her hips. Illumi followed with his hips, their movement was rhythmical. Both of them were panting hard.

Illumi changed her position, with no time, she was on her back on the bed. They were facing each other and she was delighted to see her husband became really wild in front of her. Illumi continued to fuck her, even harder. "Yes, please, please make me a mother" The words Hidako sputtered turned Illumi on. Hidako could feel warm liquid inside her body. But, Illumi kept on thrusting his to the point she reached orgasm. She was screaming in pleasure, her body twitched and her vagina was extremely wet.

She kept on moaning his name with her nails digging through the skin of his shoulder. He pushed harder. She squeaked hard when she reached the climax. With both of her legs wrapping Illumi's back and her nails scratching his shoulder.

Illumi stopped. He took out his penis, only to see his semen mixed with her vagina liquid pouring out of her vagina, while her body was twitching. Illumi then got out of the bed, he went to the bathroom to see the soreness behind his back. He looked at the mirror and saw red colored scratches caused by his wife's nails on his shoulder. He smirked and he put his sleeping robe on.

Hidako was still lying on her back, flushing and breathless. Illumi walked back to her in the bed and saw his naked exhausted wife who's drifting to unconscious state.

He kissed his unconscious wife's forehead and covered her naked body with blanket and then he joined his wife in slumber.

*

The palace was burning. There was a woman bleeding on the bed, with two swords penetrating her organs. A young girl, not more than 10 years old was hiding under the bed. She could see the horror in a form of blood dripping from the bed. It was blood of her mother.

"Look what we got! The princess!" The old man with armor pulled her leg harshly from under the bed.

The little girl was crying. She was scared. There were 4 adult men with dark hair wearing armories.

"Such a pretty face," One of the man pulled her and threw her to the wet bed. The little girl could feel the sticky blood of her mother on her body. She was horrified. The little girl kept on screaming only to be slapped and have her mouth gagged with the bloodied cloth one of the men had torn from her mother's kimono.

The man in front of her who had mid-length brown hair and dark hazel eyes with scar on his face suddenly taking off the lower part of his armor and his pants.

"Let's have some fun before we kill her," The man's words sounded like an order to the other 3 men who immediately held the young girl's body on the bed and torn her kimono, exposing her shoulder, her breast and her thighs. The young girl kept on moving until that man with hazel eyes slapped her and took out the cloth from her mouth and kissed her, ravaging her mouth with his lust and his hand was on her thigh. It was later until she kicked his crotch that he stopped for a while.

"Fucking brat!" He was going to take his knife until a force of energy came into the room and burn the men's legs who were holding her. The hazel eyed man walked back and dropped his strange-looking knife.

There was a familiar man with dark brown hair, stood in the window, standing there alone, wearing the palace color, the royal blue. The man then walked to the 4 men, blasting even hotter, even bigger fire upon half of their body. They were screaming in pain. The 3 men weren't shaped human anymore, they're dead while the the hazel eyed one was still alive, he was writhing in pain. The stench of ashes and burnt humans filled the room.

"Uncle Taka," the young girl stood up, calling the man's name and ran into him. She hugged him and cried. Taka did not budge. Instead he took her molester's knife and gave it to the young girl. It was an odd shaped knife with black handle and amethyst on it.

"It's up to you if you want to kill him or not," Taka said to the young girl. The young girl was frightened, she was crying but she nodded to the older man.

She walked towards the hazel-eyed molester and continuously stabbing the odd shaped knife into his chest frantically while Taka torched the man's arms and legs. The man screamed "No! Please! Stop! Don't!" pleading the young girl and the man to stop torturing him. Only causing the young girl to scream harder and stabbed him until he did not move anymore.

_It was the bad man who murdered my mother._

_It was the bad man who tried to defile me. _

The molester did not move anymore. "Die! Die! Die!" The young girl still did not stop stabbing the molester's body continously. Tears were still flowing through her eyes. Taka stopped the young girl by touching her shoulder and taking the knife away from her. He then carried her and escaped from the palace.

*

Hidako woke up in her hotel room at Taldives, wearing nothing underneath the blanket. She remembered that she quickly fell asleep after having sex with Illumi. It was morning, the curtain was still closed but the cawing of the birds woke her up. She saw her husband, already wearing a sleeping robe was sitting at the seat near the window, talking with someone through his cellphone.

_It was the same dream again. It had happened few times already. _

Hidako pushed her hair back. She did not want to remember that day anymore. But, she could not. In fact, she remembered every detail in that moment. That day when her mother told her to hide under the bed, when her mother was raped and killed when she was under the bed and then the faces of her molester and the three other dead men. Especially the face of the man who slapped her, held her thigh and forced himself on her, a girl who was only 9 years old at that moment, who hadn't even gotten her first period, who knew nothing about sex, had to witness such horror that tainted her forever.

"Alright," Illumi finished his conversation on the phone and put the phone on the lamp table near the bed. He came back sitting on the bed. His naked wife approached him from the back, hugged him and slung her arm to his chest.

"Who's that?" Hidako asked. Illumi faced her and told her that it was his father.

"We have to go to Heaven's Arena to look for Killua," Illumi said to his wife.

**Note : **

**Their honeymoon isn't exactly ending but next time it will be about how the Zoldyck family matters that involved Killua came into Hidako's life and of course everyone's favorite clown will be featured again in the next chapter. **

**For the guests, thank you very much from the comments!! They are the reason why i keep on writing this Zoldyck family drama. **

**And yes Silva will have more scenes later on and it will be described about why Silva's pretty passive in this Hidako Illumi matter.**

*

Disclaimer : Hunter x Hunter and everything inside the HxH universe belong to Mr. Togashi. 


	8. The Man From The Past

**Chapter 8 : The Man From The Past **

Hidako and Illumi had only spent 4 days at Taldives. It was not enough for them. They were newlyweds! And she wanted to spend more time love-making with her husband!

A phonecall from Silva was enough to ruin their honeymoon. Illumi was informed that his little brother or the heir of the Zoldyck was entering Heaven's Arena again. He was bankrupted that he had to look for money again because he spent most of his cash for gambling. He then came back to casino and he disappeared without any trace, bringing Alluka with him too.

"Find your brother and look out for him," Silva said on the phone.

They were supposed to spend few more days at Taldives. Hidako loved the relaxed vibe in Taldives. It was rare for her to be able to wear mini sun dresses and when she could just let go of her hair and put on simple hats. The moment when she did not have to dress in heavier, more complicated outfits. She hated that she had to face Killua. That boy disliked her. She hated that they had to leave the relaxed vibe of Taldives. She hated that she had to share Illumi's attention in their early days of marriage. She hated that the she had to accompany her husband to babysit his little brother. But, as usual, Hidako did not show her emotion, instead she just smiled and nodded.

The couple was staying at the hotel near the heaven's arena. The place where there was a casino there. The casino business flourished nicely in that city. People in that city love to gamble, one of the places where they like to gamble was the Heaven's Arena. After Killua took out the needles from his head, the only way to trace him was by asking someone to follow him or hacking through his ever changing phone number.

It was a Yordian style hotel. The decoration resembled a small Yordian castle, dominated with gold ornaments and pictures of angels and cupids.

"Good afternoon, Mr and Mrs Li, let me show you to your room," The hotel staff greeted her with the biggest smile and accompanied the couple to their bedroom. The couple used fake names and fake identity cards in order for people not being able to track them.

When they had arrived in the bedroom and the door was closed. Illumi changed into his usual hideous green working outfit he used for work. Hidako was not a fan of that outfit. But, she chose to stay quiet. Not commenting at his husband's fashion choice that certainly reminded her of that creepy man whom Illumi called _"ally"_ at Taldives.

"I'm going out now. If you need anything, just call Canary. She'll be your butler here" Illumi said while he was in that horrendous form, opening the door and leaving the young woman in their hotel bedroom.

*

Heaven's Arena

Illumi was always Killua's third mentor, the first one was his father, the second one was his mother and the third one is his eldest brother, the _so-called_ perfect assassin Illumi Zoldyck. Out of all of his brothers, Illumi loved Killua the most. He practically raised the boy alongside their parents. Killua was born with so much talent, talent bigger than his own. Illumi himself believed that the boy would be a great assassin. It really annoyed Illumi when Killua chose to abandon the Zoldyck's duty of being an assassin. Illumi spent his youth to raise the young boy all the things to be a good Zoldyck Assassin only to see Killua who completely had the talent and anointed as the heir rejecting the assassin duty and then it was worse, the boy he's raised practically stray far away from the a lot of the Zoldyck rules.

Killua was supposed to be the heir. But, he kept on rejecting that golden opportunity. Instead he was wandering in Heaven's Arena, scraping from battle money instead of doing real assassin job and spending that money in casino.

And then it was worse, he found out the white haired Zoldyck boy was addicted to gambling. They knew he always had penchant for gambling but it was never a big deal for the family. He spent his time in Heaven's Arena, spent all of his money in gambling. The boy and Alluka disappeared in the casino the last time Killua gambled. No Zoldyck assassin had ever done that foolish action before and that both saddened and angered Illumi.

But, no matter how far Killua strayed, Silva always loved him and would always ask Illumi to take care of Killua if he ever be in dangerous state. Illumi could not even count how many times he was asked to look over his little brother by his parents. Sometimes Illumi really wished that Killua would grow up and realize his duty as the Zoldyck heir.

It was known that the casino was owned by a mafia syndicate, a very strong one. Silva knew that sending butlers would definitely not solve the problem, therefore he sent his eldest son, the perfect assassin to look for Killua, and prevent him from spending more time in casino .

After leaving his stuff at hotel, Illumi went to Heaven's Arena that afternoon, to collect information from his ally. The man specifically asked Illumi to meet him at the audience section at level 210, he was already sitting there even before there were many people around.

"New hairstyle again?" The red-haired _ally_ who was standing with his back lying on the wall greeted Illumi who had his hair tied into a very low ponytail.

"My wife did my hair," he coldly replied Hisoka.

"I can't believe you become a _loverboy_ now. What can i help you?" Hisoka smiled.

"Killua's missing. The last thing i know is that he went into that gambling in Royal Archway," Illumi said.

"I saw that boy few times around Heaven's Arena before he's missing. Little bird told me that the _king_ captured him," his red haired ally said so.

"The _king_?" Illumi wondered what kind of person would get the title "king" in such place.

"He's a literal King of the gambling industry now and he has skilled nen-users as his staffs and rumor said that he's also a nen-user," Hisoka explained while playing with his joker card.

"I just need to kill the king and take Killua back with me then," Illumi said.

"I do not suggest you to kill the king even if you can kill the king. You don't want to make new problem that will put each of the your family's life endangered. The king is a very powerful person and he's a hunter too, who also has a lot of allies all around the world. Maybe you can meet him and then strike an agreement with him," The red haired man said.

"What are you suggesting?" Illumi asked.

"Kill his staffs. Face him. Have an agreement with him. But, it won't be easy. You will need an ally to defeat his strong staffs. It is impossible to take them all alone," Hisoka asked, suggesting the obvious.

"I see that you desire for another killing spree,"

Illumi said. "Let's do it then," he smiled. Illumi stood up and he was going to walk away but Hisoka stopped him.

"You should watch one of their strong staffs fight. This battle will feature Zhang, one of their strongest men in the group," Hisoka smirked.

The information caused Illumi to sit down and watch.

*

Hidako and Canary

Hotel Restaurant : Outdoor Section

Hidako chose not to wear her usual kimono to go out. She was wearing an emerald green body fitting dress that showed her shoulder but covering the rest of her arms and skirt that covered her knees. She wore a transparent choker made of tulle with emerald stone in the middle of it. Her look was complimented with a pair of glossy black pointy high heels, and sunglasses with baroque ornaments at the lateral sides of it.Her hair was styled up and she was wearing dark red lipstick instead of her usual pink color.

Hidako chose outdoor instead of indoor. She wanted to see the city while eating. She brought herself a book, about the History of Heaven's Arena. The book she just bought at the hotel's shop. She was fascinated by the country's main attraction, the sky high building that featured battles with fighters from all around the world.

Canary was just keeping her safe from a far. When Hidako realized that Canary did not sit down, she called upon her.

"What can i help you, Lady Hidako?" The young girl with afro hair politely asked her.

"Why don't you sit down with me and accompany me having my tea time?" Hidako requested the young butler. Canary looked like she was going to resist but after Hidako was staring at her eyes and smiled, Canary nodded. The young girl sat in front of her.

"Where do you come from, Canary?" Hidako asked.

"Meteor City, Maam," The girl answered awkwardly. Before Hidako got married, they barely had any non-formal interaction. That was the moment when she actually had an interaction with the butler.

"The same with Lady Kikyou i see ... It surprised me at how young you are, you must be at the same age with Killua ... Who did you accompany before me, Canary?" Hidako asked.

"I used to accompany him until he went out of the house and traveled," Canary replied. She was so awkward with Hidako, she was not used being treated that way. No one in the Zoldyck family except Killua who treated her not as someone below them.

"Tea, madame," The young boy waiter with strawberry blond hair came out with a tray with a kettle and two empty cups. He offered them, put the kettle and filled the two empty cup. The smell of roses was delightful for their noses. Hidako smiled to the waiter and the waiter walked away.

Hidako took a sip of her tea, while Canary just sat there, with air of gawkiness still surrounding her.

"The tea is for you, my dear," Hidako chuckled, suggesting that Canary should drink the tea.

"Canary, you had accompanied Killua. Are you close with Killua and Alluka?" Hidako asked Canary. If it was asked by the other Zoldycks, Canary's sure that would be a trap question if it were asked by one of the main Zoldycks, especially Kikyou or Illumi, who always managed to give her goosebumps. A butler shouldn't be a friend to the family. Their relationship should strictly be employee and employer kind of relationship.

"Killua is very nice, maam" Canary answered and she sipped the tea. Hidako believed her. Killua's very chill compared to the other Zoldycks and by reading the butler's body language that it was implicated that Canary liked Killua as more than just in friendly way.

"You do know that he and Alluka disappeared in this city right?" Hidako asked. Canary only nodded.

"Do you know which place he used to like to visit in this city?" Hidako asked her butler.

"He used to visit Heaven's Arena, maam," Canary answered. Hidako put the tea down from her hand and sat upright.

"You should take off the tie and unbutton 2-3 buttons off your shirt. I don't want to look like some snobbish princess with obvious bodyguard guarding her majesty," Hidako said. Then she smiled to her butler.

"Where do you plan to go, my lady?" Canary asked.

"We'll go to Heaven's Arena," Hidako stated.

*

Heaven's Arena, the same day.

Zushi vs Zhang

Hidako chose to go to one of the matches in level 210. She was accompanied by Canary who obediently followed her order to modify her look. Canary sat beside her, with her tablet in her hand, opening the profiles of the fighters.

She was sitting pretty far away from her husband, who was also staying for the fight. It was also very crowded. She did not realize that her husband was also there.

"From East wing, floor master, resident of East Padokia, with kung fu style, Zushi!" The host explained loudly.

A kid emerged from the left wing, the audience clapped and shouted enthusiastically to the kid. Hidako had never seen such young boy in the stage. She went to Heaven's Arena once, only once and only for a fight. Taka brought her to see what official battle would be like, she remembered it was two adult men with one with the classic big and buff figures, and the other one is a skinny man, handy with the knives. They used nen to fight, an enhancer vs a conjurer. The skinny man won. It was when she knew how powerful nen could trump physical strength anytime.

The boy fiercely walked to the stage.

"From the West Wing, the rising star, the unburnt, the dragon from the East, Zhang!" The announcer said ferociously. The audience was going very loud and manic, exposing how hyped and liked the rising star was.

A man emerged to the stage, wearing a _changsan_, a Kakin-based outfit, in the color dark green with dragon pattern and a black jogger pants. He looked like he was around 40-50 years old, and his hair was long and it was dark brown and it was braided. His skin showed that he was Azian. He was lanky but his aura radiated a very strong nen.

Hidako felt anger piling up inside her body when she saw his face. The face she swore to herself that she would never forget. They were the same hazel eyes that were going to violate her. Hidako unconsciously stood up, she was losing herself. For the first time after so many years, she radiated bloodlust. Canary who was sitting beside her had goosebumps because of Hidako's aura, she turned around and she was shocked that the meek woman had turned into a monster with murderous aura.

Illumi and Hisoka could feel Hidako's aura. "Your wife is here," Hisoka said to Illumi. Illumi's eyes was looking around, trying to locate his wife and then he saw his wife standing, looking at the man who wore _cheongsan_ with bloodlust. He chose to sit there, and observed what his wife was going to do.

"Lady Hidako ... Are you alright?" Canary called her, resulting her to come back to her neutral state, not having that bloodlust again. She sat down and tried to be as calm as possible.

The man whose named Zhang was the one who tried to defile her when she was a child, raped and murdered her mother. He was supposed to be dead! Why is he still alive! Hidako remembered that she stabbed the man right into his chest several times and some other places several times. She couldn't believe her eyes.

Seeing his wife sat instead of doing something, Illumi chose to stay still, he planned to ask her why did she radiate bloodlust when she had seen that cheongsan-wearing fighter.

"Zhang is one of the King's staffs ... He's strong. Very strong," Hisoka said while licking his lips. His pupil widened and they clearly described his enthusiasm in wanting to fight Zhang.

"Start!" The announcer started the fight.

"Do you really want to die today, little boy? Shouldn't you be at school or something instead of fighting?" Zhang teased the boy. The boy did not budge, instead he went into stance position.

The boy quickly moved, he ran towards Zhang. He tried to punch Zhang but Zhang dodged all his attacks. He then tried to avert Zhang's attention by punching the floor, instead Zhang just jumped back and threw him a shuriken. The boy dodged but it managed to hurt the boy's arm.

Zushi did not care, he kept on being in offensive mode. But, he kept on missing the target. Except that one kick, who managed to kick Zhang's shin. Zhang was pretty sure that his shin's blue because of the bruising already, the pain was there. The boy was a manipulator. Suddenly Zhang couldn't feel the kicked leg. The leg froze.

"Zhang could not move his leg after the attack from Zushi! What will he do?" The commentator commented. Causing the audience to pay more attention to the fight.

"Oh wow! You're quite a child," Zhang laughed and clapped his hands. He then looked at the young boy with excitement in his eyes.

The boy entered the offensive mode again and tried to attack Zhang, he was throwing punches at the older man. Zhang could still dodge his punches despite having one of his legs paralyzed. He managed to kick the child's face with his leg. The child was thrown to the ground. His face was excoriated and bruised. The old man was smiling. The child could feel that his right arm was broken, he heard the cracking voice when his arm hit the floor.

"Now Zushi got himself kicked and thrown to the ground! Can he continue fighting?" The commentator commented.

Suddenly there was a cellphone ringtone ringing from Zhang's phone. He took the phone out of his pocket and answered it. The audience was puzzled when they saw Zhang picking up the call. Zushi was groaning in pain, he was still lying on the floor, eyes closed, teeth gritting.

"Hello" The old man's hoarse voice answering the phone. "I'm battling at Heaven's Arena right now," he continued.

Zushi was trying to stand up, he slowly was being able to stand up. Though his broken arm couldn't be used anymore.

"Okay, boss. I'll finish this match quick and clean," Zhang ended his phone call.

"Sorry, kid. I can't entertain you all anymore. Duty calls," Zhang closed his flip phone and put it in his pocket.

He quickly made movements, fast movements using his fingers, like ninja making justu. Once he's done, suddenly Zushi was howling in pain. He screamed "It hurts! It's too hot! Please stop!" continuously.

"What is going on? Zushi keeps on screaming in pain! It only take few movements from Zhang to put Zushi in that state"

Hidako closed her mouth with both of her hands. She saw it. Anyone who activated their gyo could see it. A dragon breathing fire flying on the stage and burning the little boy's legs. He then burnt his arms.

_Yield, boy! Yield! You won't survive!_

Hidako thought inside her head. Hisoka on the other hand was amazed by the view, a green dragon breathing fire. The dragon stopped breathing fire and then circled the young boy who was crying, in fear, looking at the dragon's black orbs. He could feel the heat of his green scales. The boy fainted.

"Great!" Zhang could feel his leg right away after the boy had fainted.

Everyone could see that his clothes were burned, half of his extremities were burned badly. His skin already turned into combination of both black and waxy white.

"The winner is Zhang!" The announcer said. Everyone clapped hands though their eyes couldn't believe the horror they had just seen, it was like witchcraft for those who did not understand nen.

"Call medics on stage right now!" The announcer then quickly went to the little boy's side and shouted. Followed by a man wearing a white shirt and glasses coming to the young boy.

Zhang got another call and he quickly picked it up and left the stage. He was unbothered by the fact that a child could be dead by his action.

Hidako who watched the horror that had happened in front of her eyes could only grabbed the fabric of her dress with so much anger. The monster had became an even scarier stronger insane demon.

"I have to kill him ... i have to kill him ... i have to kill him ...," Hidako kept on murmuring that. She promised herself that she would have him killed. _Permanently_.

**Note :**

**First, i have few things i'd like to address :**

**1\. I have no idea how Zushi's power would manifest. All i know is that he's a manipulator, that's why i have this idea that his manipulation power activated when he managed to hit someone at the right energy level and he could only manipulate that section.**

**2\. Illumi's hair in this chapter is being done the way Itachi from Naruto's or Neji Hyuuga from Naruto's hair was. _It was a very low ponytail right?_**

**I would like to thank all the guests and Arabia9 who commented on this story. Really. Thank you for the kind comments. The comments are the ones that keep me writing this story.**

*

Disclaimer : Hunter x Hunter and everything inside the HxH universe belong to Mr. Togashi.


	9. Royal Archway

**Chapter 9 : Royal Archway **

_Zoldyck Mansion. Main Bedroom._

The woman was sitting at the dressing room, she took off her visor, and changed into something simple, a sleepwear. She took the bandages off of her face. Her wounds that was inflicted by her third son had almost healed completely. There she saw a pair huge round dark eyes who reminded her of her own beloved firstborn and her porcelain skin again in the mirror. She took off her hairdo and exposing her long black hair, she admitted that she did look a bit like Hidako, that fucking wench, she thought.

She might look like me but she's never an assassin who was crawling from shithole to earn her position. That spoiled slut never deserved it.

She hated Hidako to the gut. She was incompetence, she thought. She knew Hidako's background, a daughter from a rich mafia family who spent all of her life doing story-telling to the riches. A girl who obviously had no idea how to raise an assassin. She knew she should have just gone againts the engagement when Zeno offered her to Illumi.

Kikyou never really liked Hidako. Especially knowing that she was someone who's liked by Zeno. She never liked Zeno at the first place. The man also did not like her. He always saw her as a poor worthless impecunious low life from Meteor City. Silva was engaged to another woman, a rich yakuza's daughter, who also knew how to use nen and trained assassin. It was the same situation with Illumi and Hidako. But, the time between the engagement and the marriage was pretty long What Silva and that rich woman had was arranged, they were engaged until in the middle of it Silva brought home that low life from Meteor City with a baby in her belly and pleaded to Zeno for him to cancel the marriage with that rich yakuza's daughter. Zeno disagreed at first, he ordered the butlers to kill Kikyou but despite being pregnant, she managed to defeat them all. Silva had threatened to run away from the mountain, despite him being the one true heir at that time. But, Zeno did not budge, he kept his son in the torture room. Kikyou did not run away from that mountain. She proved her worth of being a good killer, a very very good assassin by murdering those 3 strong butlers who tried to murder her.

She still clearly remembered when she was walking, drenched with blood all over her purple shirt, having Zeno's favorite butler's heads and threw those men's heads in front of Zeno's face, destroying the plate in front of him. The old man was dining in his room at that moment. It managed to win his approval. But, he clearly said to her "You might have won my approval but i never like you and i will never like you."

After 25 years of marriage, there came that woman, coming to the mansion, with her beautifully done hair, her incredibly smooth porcelain skin, her expensive kimono and her soft voice. She was not even an assassin, and suddenly she just got to marry her beloved first son because Zeno fucking approved? It was not fair at all and Kikyou believed that Hidako would never be a good Zoldyck. She never lived an assassin life. She was _soft_. She would never be a good assassin. She would neither be a perfect wife for Illumi nor a perfect Zoldyck mother.

"Darling, are you okay?" Silva's voice prevented Kikyou from ruining the comb which she had in her hand the whole time.

"I'm okay, my love, i'm just a bit tired," Kikyou said, faking her smile.

Her husband was already wearing his sleepwear, he quickly went to their bed, he lied down and grabbed a book beside the table but when he saw his wife still looked angry, he put it down and asked her "Do you still disagree with Illumi marrying Hidako?"

Kikyou turned her head,faced him and joined him by sitting on the bed.

"I don't understand why your father marry our son off to that woman, she's not an assassin, not even much of a fighter, what does he see in her aside from her family's wealth? Does he not think about how she will raise our grandchild?" She whined.

Silva sighed and replied "Illumi's not the heir. He doesn't have to raise his children to be assassins"

"I raised him to be a perfect assassin and he IS a perfect assassin. It will be a waste if his children do not become an assassin because he married a weak spoiled princess!" She vociferated. She hated it when Silva chose not to care about Illumi. Illumi had became the perfect son but Silva still did not care about him. Not the way he cared about Killua too.

"But, Illumi seems to favor her. We all know he went to her bed room several times before the wedding day," Silva replied his wife with his calm demeanor. It made Kikyou's blood boiled.

"You clearly do not care about Illumi at all," She bawled, only to be replied with "My father chose that woman personally and his choice shouldn't be bad. That woman had passed all of your tests too. You shouldn't be that worried." His husband then picked up the book he had put beside the bed and continued reading it, ignoring his angry wife.

Kikyou stood up and walked out of their bed room, slammed the door and chose to sleep in another room. She was completely irritated.

Kikyou loved Killua, she loved all of her children(except Alluka) equally. If things like this would happen to Killua, she would be mad too but having Illumi married to a _weakling_ and Silva mostly being indifferent about it made her really mad.

Kikyou moved to her private room. It was a room that's designed in European style, dominated in color gold and soft yellow. The place where she put some of her items and the place where she usually went to sleep at when she had a fight with Silva or when Silva had to sleep in the morning after a mission, so, she wouldn't disturb him.

That night, it was the first tears after so many years of not crying because she felt embarrassed because how of Illumi and Zeno defended Hidako then after the couple got married, and his husband did not care at all about her opinion.

She threw herself to the bed and cried until she fell asleep.

*

Kukuroo Mountain. Zoldyck Residence Main Entrance

It was night and it was a dark night with bright moon. A child tried to push the Zoldyck gate. She was wearing a tribal dress and her dress was torn and rigged. She also had a lot of wounds around her body. But, she did not have enough energy to do it. Instead, she fainted. Having a child fainting in front of the gate surprised the guard. He quickly ran to the child and found out that it's his master.

"Master Alluka!" the guard who guarded the gate quickly called the butler from the main house to pick her up.

Silva who was sleeping in his bed room got a call from the butler and he quickly rushed to Alluka's bedroom.

"What's going on?" Silva asked the butler. His child was unconscious and severely wounded.

"I found that there's this envelope slipping out of his dress' pocket, sir," the balding male butler handed the envelope to Silva.

Silva quickly opened the letter and he was shocked when he read the news.

_Killua Zoldyck is now my property. He had gambled that he would serve us and he lost the gamble. Bring me 50 billion jenny and it has to be a Zoldyck who will bring the money if you want your boy back. We'll be waiting at Royal Archway Main Casino at 2 PM._

_With regards,_

_King of Royal Archway_

*

_Heaven's Arena. East Padokia_

Hidako exited the Arena, she walked outside along with the crowd. It made her heart pounded when she was witnessing the fight between that demon versus that poor little boy. But, then she saw her husband with that ally of his, their backs were facing her but she could identify that it was her husband and Hisoka. But, it was not bloodlust, it was pure simple jealousy. She wanted to walk to her husband but the crowd and the distance prevented her to do so.

When Hisoka turned his head, he saw Hidako's face, definitely showing that she was not pleased to see him and Illumi. Instead of distancing himself from Illumi, Hisoka clung his arm on Illumi's shoulder and smirked, like he was mocking her. It definitely enraged her.

"Canary," Hidako called her butler, replied with "Yes, maam," from Canary. "Put everything you can find about Zhang and Hisoka Morrow to my tablet," The lady requested.

*

_Hotel. 11:50 PM._

Hidako was already inside her hotel room, she had herself cleansed, she let her black hair down and wore a pink silk slip-on dress with spaghetti strap and black lace that perfectly displayed the contour of her breasts and nipples. She sat on the chair, with a book History of Heaven's Arena in her hands. In her head, she already had two objectives, to murder Zhang and to remove that _fucking_ clown from clinging to her husband.

The door was opened and she could see that her husband was entering the room.

"Oh you haven't gone to bed," Illumi said when he saw her still reading.

"Have you found Killua and Alluka?" Hidako asked her husband. She was gazing at him, he wasn't wounded, just a little dirty. She could see that the fabric of his atrocious outfit was slightly torn.

"No," His husband answered coldly, while taking off his pants. Showing off his pale legs.

"Did you get any information?" Hidako asked. She stood up and helped her husband taking off his outfit.

"Apparently, he was at Royal Archway casino right before he disappeared. I guess the head of the casino gave permission to Killua despite him being a 15 years old and perhaps he gambled till he ran out of money and then he chose to take him as hostage knowing that he's a Zoldyck," Illumi said after he finished taking everything off of his body. Royal Archway sounded very familiar for Hidako. But, she could not seem to recall what.

Hidako went inside the bathroom and turned on the water so it would be warm and comfortable for him. Illumi went inside the bath tub.

Hidako touched his hair and pulled the hairband from his hair. Illumi suddenly grabbed her hand. "Was it painful?" Hidako asked, she thought that it would feel painful when she pulled it off of his hair.

"I saw you at the Heaven's Arena," Illumi told his wife, ignoring her question, his eyes were gazing at hers.

"Yes. I was watching the fight between Zhang and Zushi with Canary. I saw you watching that fight with that ally of yours. Do you work together with him to solve this case?" Hidako was mockingly saying it to Illumi while pouring shampoo to his hair. But, Illumi was unbothered.

"Hisoka gave me valuable information about Killua, Royal Archway and the staffs and the owner of that casino so i let him join the case because he likes to fight strong people," Illumi replied, calmly. It either he had no idea what his wife was insinuating or he really had no special relationship whatsoever with that red-haired man. Hidako poured more water and shampoo to his hair, then massaging his head. She could see that her husband was enjoying her massage. The smell of sakura was strong but at the same time, it calmed both of them.

"I saw you radiating bloodlust when that Zhang guy was on the stage," Illumi said. His deep dark orbs were staring at his wife's brown eyes. Hidako shivered when she heard that man's name. The bad memory came back unto her again. She froze for a moment until her husband called her name. "Hidako!"

"He was one of those who was responsible in the rebellion at the Kingdom," Hidako said while pouring more shampoo to her hands. Illumi remembered that his grandfather used to tell him a bit about Hidako's history and that she was a princess of that small kingdom.

"That Zhang guy is a staff of the casino king now. The king is a term that people use to call the owner of Royal Archway. Hisoka said that the security at his casino was also as good at the security inside his house" Illumi told her, he looked up to his wife.

"Let me join you in saving your brother," Hidako requested. She wanted to kill Zhang and she wanted to be the one who stabbed him until his very last breath.

"No, i cannot risk your life, Hidako" Illumi sternly said that to his wife. "And you're not a fighter," Illumi said to her.

"If you want to join the mission to kill Zhang, you don't have to join the mission, i'll do it for you, i'll kill Zhang," Illumi gazed at his wife's eyes.

"No, Illumi, it's personal,i have to be the one who will torture him 'till his death," Hidako was staring at her husband's eyes. Her stare was serious. Illumi had never seen that look on her face, the look of someone who would do anything to get what she wanted.

"Still a no," Illumi closed the conversation.

Suddenly, Illumi's cellphone rang and Hidako, who was definitely a lot drier than Illumi washed her hands and quickly walked out of the bathroom and grabbed at the phone.

"Who is it, Hidako?" Illumi asked. "It's father Silva," Hidako brought the phone to Illumi. "Hold it for me please," Illumi requested her. She held the phone for Illumi and pressed the green button.

"Illumi, i've sent you a text message with the letter from the Royal Archway casino king. It is confirmed that he holds Killua as a hostage. He asked for a Zoldyck to bring 50 billion jenny tomorrow at 2 PM at the Main Archway Casino. Illumi, i believe that you can handle this without money" Silva said on the phone. The man sounded very calm, as if Royal Archway Casino King was not a threat at all for him.

"Okay, father," Illumi just agreed calmly.

"I guess it is someone with personal grudge and the money was just extra," Hidako explained.

"Most probably," Illumi said. Hidako put the phone to the table near the toiletries.

"After the bath, I'm going out again tonight. The faster the better, i cannot risk Killua's well being," Illumi said while putting more soap to his body. That shocked Hidako. She thought that he would lay it off for a while since it was their honeymoon. They were supposed to spend a night together. It was bad enough that her honeymoon's cut down because Illumi had to deal with Killua's problem.

"Shouldn't _you_ be staying tonight and at least have sex with your wife before you continue your mission with perhaps that _ally_ of yours?" Hidako raised her voice and it was the first time Illumi had seen his obedient wife acting like that.

Illumi stood up from the bath, still wet and naked. He walked towards Hidako and he grabbed her face, almost choking her.

"You don't talk to me like that," his voice was stern, it was ghastly. She was genuinely scared at her husband. It was impossible to talk to Illumi or even fight him.

"Good girl," Once her expression softened, he let go of her and he smiled. She was falling down to the floor, sitting there and coughing.

Illumi dried his body, put on purple outfit and went out quickly.

*

On his way, he called Hisoka to join the ambush of the house of the casino king. It was a big house, with Yordian style design and beautiful garden with statues and waterfall. They had guards everywhere. Big men with pale skin and machine guns.

Illumi and Hisoka easily knocked all of them down. None of them even realized that they were even there. None of them was nen-user.

It was way too easy for them. They crashed the window and entered the house. Only to be met with someone from Phantom Troupe.

The long-haired man had just woken up from his slumber. He was sleeping at the beige sofa using a black long sleeve shirt and pants, with katana in front of him. He quickly let out of his katana and pointed it to the men in front of him.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He shouted at Hisoka with his Meteor City accent.

"Hello Nobunaga, i cannot believe we can meet again in such circumstances," Hisoka playfully greeted him. Only to make the man angrier.

"I really want to cut that fucking face of yours," Nobunaga replied. Only to be replied with a smirk with Hisoka.

"We're looking for the King of Archway Casino," Illumi said straight to the point.

"King of Archway? You mean Mr. Christian Archway? That guy is barely home. He's probably in one of his casinos doing _god-knows-what_, i am practically just guarding an empty house with no one but staffs most of the time" Nobunaga sighed.

"Do you think chatting call kill a person? Go do your fucking work, Nobunaga!" Nobunaga heard a voice from his earpiece. He quickly moved towards Hisoka, using katana trying to cut him and then swayed it to Illumi's side but they managed to dodge. It slitted a bit of their clothings at the waist part but it harmed none of their skin.

"We're leaving," Illumi quickly leapt out of the house from the window.

"Tell boss Chrollo that Hisoka _missed_ him," Hisoka said, smirking while leaping out of the house.

They both disappeared into the darkness. Illumi came back to his bedroom at dawn. His wife was still sleeping on the bed. Her eyes were slightly swollen, she was perhaps crying after what he had done to her.

*

Illumi took off his outfit, he only wore his boxer and went under the blanket. He hugged his wife from the back and went to sleep for few hours before he was gone again.

Illumi knew that it was impossible to jump and wreaked havoc in every single Archway casino it was risky. For a man who wouldn't mind hiring a Phantom Troupe member to guard his empty house, the King might be someone very powerful himself. It was known that it was not that easy to hire a Phantom Troupe member since they were not easily swayed by money. There might be something really special about the King himself.

He chose to just face the King in the afternoon. He went to the Main Royal Archway that day. It was a huge casino with many statues in shape of male and female angels and decoration that certainly influenced from the medieval Yordian. Illumi went inside the casino earlier than it was, in a black suit. Hisoka went out without his makeup on and he let his hair down, he also wore a suit but in maroon color. The guards were different compared the ones in the main house. They were also big men and women but they were nen-users.

Both men were playing at the casino, Hisoka was playing 21 and Illumi was playing poker. Illumi brought a luggage filled with fake money. Their eyes were wandering off, searching for someone matching to the profile that was stated and displayed in the hunter website, a blond man with blue eyes in his mid 40s. But, they did not find him.

"Mr. Christian Archway is waiting for you," A familiar man showed up behind Illumi. It was Nobunaga. He showed up wearing a suit and his hair tied up in ponytail. He held a knife behind Illumi. Illumi could feel the tip of the knife on his suit and the nen that was focused on that knife. He knew it was a stupid move if he didn't follow what Nobunaga would instruct him to do.

"You're staying here," Another familiar voice made Hisoka smiled. He couldn't move his body, it was invincibly tied by the woman's string nen.

"Very crafty, Machi," Hisoka smirked when he saw the pink-haired woman. He was delighted to see such a pretty sight in front of him. He stayed there.

*

_Royal Archway Casino : VVVIP Room_

In order to reach the VVVIP room of the casino Illumi had to go to a special lift that's located secretly behind a certain VVIP room. Illumi had to walk with Nobunaga's nen-infused knife behind him into the empty VVIP room with a painting on the wall. A realistic 3D painting of a screaming woman, half of a body of a pretty woman with, who was sleeping, with blood coming out of her chest. It reminded Illumi of one of the painting in his target's house, the painting that was made using real human body being "immortalized as a painting" using some kind of nen.

Nobunaga opened the secret door using nen. The Painting acted like a door, it was opened and both of them came inside a modern life that was styled classically with mirror and gold colored handles. Both of them went to the basement. When Illumi came out of the lift, it was a big stage, located in the lower middle of the arena. Surrounding it was a place for audience to sit and there was a huge screen and a curvaceous woman wearing skimpy bunny outfit holding number. He saw his brother sedated in a glass cage, chained and wearing an oversized white shirt and blue skinny jeans and boots. Beside the cage there was Zhang guarding it, wearing a black suit.

"Oh Greetings, gentlemen, i'm Christian Archway or The Casino King, the owner Royal Archway casino. Wow, look, apparently Silva sent his eldest son to pick his middle son. How nice"

From the screen, Illumi could see the blond haired blue eyed old man. The guy who abducted his brother. He was smart enough not to show up physically in front of strong nen-users.

"Well, Let's have fun, gentlemen!" The king ended his message. Illumi knew that it was all a trapbut it was too late. A syringe filled with surprisingly effective sedating agent was injected to Illumi's back. He's quickly losing consciousness.

"Well, i'll leave it here to you, Zhang, the Zoldyck boy is here now, my duty is done," Nobunaga said while leaving the young man's body in the venue.

**Note :**

**It's the first conflict between Hidako and Illumi and a little information that Hidako's an only child for a pretty long time who's despite all the "trainings" she had to endure, the people where she came from considered her as a "princess" there, she can be pretty selfish(and of course, possessive too). She's also slightly younger than Illumi.**

**Again, i'd like to thank the guests who commented. The comments are the ones who keep me writing.**

**I had rough days last week, i had so many work-related tasks (that's why i did not post anything for a whole week) and my health condition was deteriorating badly but now i'm getting better, so i managed to finish and post this chapter.**

**And dear guest, sadly, Hidako won't meet Zushi.**


	10. Interlude

**Chapter 10 : Interlude **

Hotel Room. 10 PM

That night, Hidako was both angry and worried knowing the fact that her husband had not came back yet and he did not text her at all. He also did not answer her calls. She asked Canary to accompany her in the hotel room. She kept on walking back and forth in her hotel room, wearing her sleeping robe in blue.

"Canary, has he texted you yet?" Hidako was furious. She felt like she wanted to punch someone's face at that moment.

"There hasn't been any information from Master Illumi, my lady," Canary replied. The girl was just sitting there with her legs closed and and her hands on her thighs at the seat at the edge of the room.

"Any information you get about Hisoka Morrow and Zhang?" Hidako asked. The young girl took out the tablet from her bag and gave it to the lady.

Hidako scrolled through the information about Zhang and Royal Archway. How he worked as mercenary, a Heaven's Arena fighter for fun and how he's a bodyguard of Mr. Christian Archway, the owner of the Royal Archway Casino, the King of Casino Business. When Hidako saw his face, she realized how familiar the guy was. The blonde hair and the calming cerulean blue eyes, the pale skin and the face that reminded Hidako of the actor from the silver screen. An old but handsome man who came to her show when she was a teenage girl, he used to bring his two daughters who also had the same cerulean blue eyes and the same pale skin with different shades of golden strands on their heads. They were at the same age with Hidako at that time. She had not seen that man for a long time until last year. She believed the man should remember her. She was chatting for a long time with Mr. Christian himself the last time they had met, talking about the literature she had read for him.

She tried to find more information about Christian Archway. She called her staffs at Taka's house, the guy who usually took care of being the little bird for Taka to look it up for her. While waiting for his replies, she looked at the profile of Hisoka Morrow, a true fighter, a hunter, a guy who excelled in fighting, a champion at the Heaven's Arena and he was often sighted in Illumi Zoldyck's missions, definitely an ally.

But, aside from Christian Archway, Hisoka's the only man who was last seen with her husband. So, she devised a plan to get her husband back, perhaps saving his brother and end all this so-called mission.

*

Royal Archway Casino

The casino never slept. Hisoka was playing 21 for hours there with Machi guarding him from behind. She was wearing a black suit, just like any other guard there. She had her eyes on him for hours, giving the man no space to move away from the table.

"You can go now," Machi said, releasing the string nen from him.

Hisoka stood up and faced Machi. He flirted to Machi "Don't you want to have a date with me tonight?"

"Fuck off, Hisoka," Machi harshly pushing him away.

"How can Phantom Troupe be related to the King?" Hisoka asked the girl.

"It's none of your business, Hisoka, just _fuck off_ and do your own thing and don't come back here again unless you want to die," Machi threatened him with string surrounding Hisoka's neck.

"How _arousing_," Hisoka licked his lips. It caused Machi to shiver. She pulled Hisoka's arm and pushed him outside the casino and letting go of the string from his neck.

After he went out of the casino, it was already dark. He suddenly got a text message from someone unexpected that left a smile on his face.

*

Royal Archway VVVIP Room

Christian Archway showed up in person in front of the boys. The Zoldyck boys were chained in two separate cages. In their arms there were iv infusion. In front of them there were huge cameras that's connected to the big screen in the venue.

Illumi Zoldyck was still sedated and Killua was slowly gaining his consciousness. In front of him there was Christian Archway himself, a blond haired blue eyed old man who looked like an aged-up silver screen actor. Beside him was a man that suddenly made Killua's heart beat faster, the member of Phantom Troupe, Nobunaga and Zhang. He remembered that moment when he was captured by Phantom Troupe with Gon and had to risk their lives to escape. He also remembered that the guy with hazel eyes were the one who captured him and Alluka, sedated both of them because he lost the gamble.

When Killua regained his full consciousness, he frantically moved but it was impossible for him to escape from the chain, the more he moved, the tighter the chain became. When he looked beside him, there was his eldest brother, the one he feared, the one he knew was the strongest out of his siblings was also at the same position but unconscious. Killua was hyperventilating, he was horrified by the fact that even his strongest brother was defeated. He was crying and screaming.

"Oi! Calm down or i'll cut your leg!" Nobunaga directed his sword to the boy's leg. The boy was terrified. He stopped screaming.

"Where is my sister?" Killua asked.

"Oh you mean your little _brother_?" Zhang smirked. The smirk itself already gave Killua goosebumps and ideas of whatever the hell he probably had done to Alluka.

"He was small and _sweet_. It was my first time with a young boy with a mannerism of a young girl and a very _very_ cute face, very smooth supple skin as well, and his whimper when i gagged her mouth and my put myself in ... it was priceless ... I would have ravaged him once more if Mr. Archway allowed me," Zhang insinuated that he had raped Alluka. Killua was furious, he was screaming, trying to pull the chain with all of his power. His nen was overflowing, his hands changed shape to pointy knife-like shape, but the chain only grew tighter and stopped him from moving.

"I have a video of it. Do you want to see it?" Zhang teased the boy, only to make the boy angrier.

"I'll kill you, i'll _fucking_ kill you!" He was screaming. Everyone in the room could feel the boy's bloodlust.

"Just rest now young boy for tomorrow will be a big day," The king said before he left the room with Zhang. They left Nobunaga inside the room, guarding Illumi who was still sedated and a crying young boy.

_It was my fault. I shouldn't have gambled. I shouldn't have been so reckless. If i had not gambled, Alluka wouldn't have been raped. I and Illumi wouldn't be captured. _

The young boy was weeping. Tears were wetting his face. He felt guilt. An unexplained guilt.

Nobunaga sat there, with his katana in his arm. He was looking at the crying young boy.

"I can't believe we have to be in this situation again," Nobunaga interrupted the young boy. Deep inside, he felt bad that he had to witness Zhang exposing the details of the rape to the boy. Zhang was sick. There was something off about him, he reminded him of both Hisoka and Omokage. The thought of both of them got him nauseated.

"Why are you working for The King? Aren't you a part of Phantom Troupe?" Killua stopped crying and asked the Azian man.

"The boss asked me to help with whatever Mr. Christian Archway wanted to do this month, i can't believe that thing he wanted to do involves you Zoldycks," Nobunaga huffed.

"What does The King plan to do with me and my brother?" Killua asked.

"Tomorrow night, they will have an auction. Those rich folks will bet for things they wish to do to you Zoldyck kids," Nobunaga explained.

"Auction?" Killua was confused at first.

"I have no idea how it will be but it seems like the one who pays the most can choose the way they want to murder you Zoldyck kids, it's a private auction i guess," Nobunaga said. Killua had goosebumps when he heard that. The possibilities were endless. He could have been beheaded, electrocuted or burnt to death, or just a simple euthanasia. Nobody knew.

"Funny how these people would murder us when we're actually just the "_messengers_"," Killua said with his eyes still swollen because he sobbed before.

"Yeah, just hope someone would pay to save you, perhaps, just _perhaps_, you'll live or at least you won't die in a painful death," Nobunaga said.

*

Capital Cafe. 8 AM.

Hidako was sitting there with her bodyguard. She was sitting like a lady, her legs were closed and her right ankle was located behind her left ankle. She was wearing a long-sleeve soft pink silk top with plunging neckline and a lace tube to cover her cleavage. She wore a pencil skirt that stopped at her knees. Her shoes were a pair of black pointed heels with laque leather. Her legs were covered with transparent lace stockings. She wore a pink diamond on each of her ears. Her hair was let down, long and straight and black with brownish hue being tucked behind her ears. It was an expensive cafe, a luxe cafe with the smell of arabica coffee roaming in the air and jazz music playing all the time. Beside her, there was her little bodyguard, a black girl sitting beside her with a staff leaning beside her chair. Hisoka could see that she brought another bodyguard that day. An Azian man with unruly wavy hair, small stature, dark under-eye and olive skin. He was sitting in another table but Hisoka knew exactly that he was a very strong nen-user.

"Hello, Mrs Zoldyck, i can't believe you ask me to meet you here," Hisoka showed up, wearing his usual atrocious clown outfit with face paintings on his face.

"Good morning, Mr. Morrow," Hidako replied, sternly. The man sat down in front of her, crossing his legs with his eyes kept on gazing towards hers.

"Is there anything i can help, _Mrs. Zoldyck_?" Hisoka asked. He was smiling all the time, the kind of disingenuous smile he often put on when it's needed.

"I believe that you're aware that i'm not a fighter, Mr. Morrow," Hidako stated.

"I need you to help me in rescuing my husband , perhaps his brothers as well and staying away from him afterwards. Just name your price," Hidako pushed an empty cheque on the table towards Hisoka's side. The guy smiled even bigger.

"No, i don't receive payment in jenny, i receive payment in another form," Hisoka pushed back the cheque to Hidako's side. Hidako's eyes widened.

"Now tell me, what is it that i can do to earn your service?" Hidako eyes moved from the cheque to Hisoka's face, asking the question with sternness in her voice.

"Right now, i wish to fight a man but the man keeps on disappearing," Hisoka responded. His folded his arms in relaxed manner and told her the name of the man "Chrollo Lucilfer. That's his name. He's the leader of Phantom Troupe"

The man took out his cell phone and sent Hidako the picture. A picture of a man from his side angle, a fair-skinned man with dark hair, doe grey eyes and a cross tattoo on his forehead.

"I've sent you the picture of him," Hisoka said.

Hidako opened her cell phone. She saw a familiar face she once had seen before. It was the man who accompanied Christian Archway the last time he had come to her reading session. A gorgeous man with jade earrings and a simple black suit, supposed to be only a little older than her. Hidako never really bothered that man, she was busy catering to more important guests, she thought that the guy must be one of Christian Archway's pretty "_companions_" he often brought to events. The old man always had penchant for beautiful people regardless the gender. She never thought that he was the leader of the infamous Phantom Troupe.

"I might be able to arrange that," Hidako agreed and smiled to the man in front of her.

*

Auction Night. 10 PM. VVVIP Room.

It was a huge place with a cage in the middle of it. The stage was lower than the surroundings. There were two smaller cages, covered with grey cloths. At the edge of the big cage, there were four nen users, a woman with pink hair, a tall man with blond hair and a big man with long ears, and Zhang. All wore black suits.

It was the first time Hidako went inside the so-called VVVIP room. It was like smaller version of Heaven's Arena, with more protection to the audience. There were at least 30 people in the audience seats(or more like sofas). It was like a club setting where there were red sofa and low table in front of the sofa. Hidako walked inside the venue, wearing a electric blue silk kimono with crane patterns, she had half of her hair tied up and styled with white rose hairpin.

Hidako got a special place, the same sofa with Mr. Christian Archway himself. Everyone was putting on mask, like it was masquerade, including Hidako. Beside Hidako, there was a man, that man named Chrollo Lucilfer, he was letting his hair down, and he covered half of his face with mask but Hidako could never forget those pair of grey doe eyes. When he was going to greet Hidako, Christian Archway appeared in front of them and sat in between of them. Behind them, there were their bodyguards. That day, Hidako did not let Canary to be her bodyguard, instead she had Joko and Hisoka in disguise to be her bodyguard. Joko had similar power with Illumi, he could change someone's appearance using needles but not only his own appearance. He could also do it to another man but with the man's consent. Hisoka became a dark-haired Azian man with skinny stature but still with yellow orbs. No one would realize it was Hisoka.

The king easily slung his arm around Chrollo's shoulder. Just like how he usually did to his pretty "_companion_". But, he didn't do that to Hidako out of respect because he knew the girl's father.

Christian Archway also wore a mask, he wore a diamond embellished mask and he paired it with a white suit that perfectly fit him. He grabbed a glass of wine that was served in front of him and stood up.

The cloth that was used to cover the cages was taken away and in the cages there were the Zoldyck boys who were tied to the cage with nen-infused chain. Hidako could see that Killua was already fully awaken and Illumi was there, slowly opening his eyes, Hidako could see that her husband was still disorientated at the sight of the venue. She wanted to murder The King at that time with the knife she hid under her obi but she knew it would be a dumb thing to do. So, she held it back.

"Today, we'll witness the death of the Zoldycks . The world most ruthless and the most sadistic assassins. But, the fun thing is ... you can bet for the way you want them to be murdered, let the auction begin!"

**Note :**

**First of all, i'd like to thank you for all the comments. They are the ones that keeps me writing. I really appreciate the comments. They really brighten my days. **

**@Bubble310 : Everything about the relationship between the Phantom Troupe and The King will be exposed in the next chapter and how PT will react to the event. **

**The next chapter will feature the execution of our main lady's plan and perspective from certain someone from PT. **

Disclaimer : Everything in Hunter x Hunter belongs to Mr. Togashi


	11. Things People Do For Love

**Chapter 11 : Things People Do For Love**

Chrollo Lucilfer was a visionaries even since he was a child. He was a boy who knew exactly about opportunities. He knew his strength and his weakness. He was a poor man with a beautiful face and sweet mouth and he knew it. Then, he grew up being a man with strong nen and he knew it.

He took an opportunity when a man named Christian Archway, a man who was born in Meteor City managed to build a casino empire in the world showed up in front of him, saving him from that hellhole Meteor City, took him as his assistant slash bodyguard. Christian Archway rose to his success by marrying a very very rich heiress who later on died because of the childbirth of Christian's two daughters. It's unclear whether he loved her or because of her money. She gave birth to his daughters, Beatrice and Claire. Beautiful girls with cerulean blue eyes, just like their fathers and different shades of golden strands. Christian loved his daughters very much.

It was an opportunity for Chrollo. He's one of Christian's right hand men. He knew that if he managed to marry one of the daughters, he would be able to own all the money needed to run the world. With his charm, he managed to secure his position as Claire's bodyguard, one of the daughters of Mr. Archway. The doll-faced girl with cerulean blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair. The girl who always tied her hair with soft blue ribbon and liked to wear. She favored Chrollo so much, she liked him and Christian never really minded if it was Chrollo who was dating the girl. The King considered Chrollo as a smart convincing man, worthy enough to marry his daughter. Someone who could continue his empire, his legacy.

Everything went so well until his daughters were murdered. All because he refused to collaborate with a mafia group. Christian was devastated when both of his beloved daughters died. At that moment, only Chrollo came up with the idea of searching any information about the murder. He found out that it was the Zoldycks who were the assassins and it was the Valentin family who ordered it. That night, Chrollo murdered every single person of that family. He brought their heads to The King. The King was pleased but there was always a hole in his heart, he still wanted to murder anyone who's included in the death of his daughters. They were the Zoldycks. The King found out that it was Silva Zoldyck and his crews who had done it to his daughters. The King wished to do the same to Silva Zoldyck. He wished to murder his most beloved sons.

The King released Chrollo from his service, forever indebted to the young man for giving him the heads of the Valentin family and for staying with him during his grieving days.

Chrollo knew exactly how much Christian loved his daughters, he used his grief as a ladder for him to get into his heart. Christian Archway fell in love with the same man with his daughter. He became his lover. It was easier to become The King's lover instead of being just his bodyguard or errand boy. The King set Chrollo free, free to do whatever he wanted to do except when he's needed, The King would want Chrollo to always stay beside him.

He grew closer and closer to The King. He knew the hatred The King had harbored towards the Zoldycks. He let a Zoldyck child became a member of his group, Kalluto Zoldyck. He acquired the information he needed about the Zoldycks for Christian Archway.

Silva loved his eldest and his silver-haired middle children the most.

The King is an opportunist as well. He knew exactly the day when Killua Zoldyck stepped into his casino was the day when his vengeance towards Silva Zoldyck would begin. The man saw the gambling pattern of the young boy, he let him gamble to the point of addiction, to the point that he would risk everything in order to win. To the point that he'd gamble his freedom for it.

*

The Auction

Surrounding the cage, there were three nen users in black suits. A pink-haired girl, Zhang, and an Azian man with long hair tied up holding a katana.

The auction started with the price of 10 billion jenny. Knowing how he had asked Silva 50 billion Jenny, Hidako realized that money was not exactly the problem there. It was just because The King's a capitalist that he auctioned the death of the Zoldycks.

"11 billions" "12 billions" "15 billions" "20 billions" "30 billions"

The auction kept on rolling to the point of 55 billions jenny. Hidako stayed quiet. She sat still. She had the money but with a father like Taka, he would have forced to remarry someone elss instead of paying that amount of money to save her Zoldyck husband.

Killua and Illumi couldn't move with chains restraining them and strong nen-users surrounding them. Killua could only wish that at least it wasn't a painful death. Illumi was looking around and it somehow surprised him to see his wife sitting beside The King. He knew that it was her despite the mask. He was waiting for opportunity. He knew his wife being there meant she was going to do something in the middle of the auction.

"55 billions jenny!" "Is there someone else who is willing to bid higher?" The host asked.

"The killing method goes to the Ms. Number 20!" The host said while handling the black-colored tablet to the man. Ms. Number 20 was a middle-aged dark-skinned woman with plump figure wearing a purple dress embellished with crystals and a black masquerade mask with purple feathers.

"I'd like to have them killed in private, not with everyone around like this" the woman said while drinking her champagne. The other guests were sent outside by the staffs.

"I'd like to see the Zoldyck boys fight with Mr. Archway's guards to death," The plump woman said. The big cage and the smaller cages opened.

Machi who was looking around realized that there was something odd with Lady Hidako's guards. There were two of them but then there's only one person. She quickly texted Chrollo the oddity.

"One of that kimono woman's guards is gone"

Chrollo opened his cellphone and looked back and he saw two people. But, then, he realized the power that Hidako had. The illusion.

He quickly jumped and kicked the guards. The "Joko" one disappeared. His leg was held by Hisoka's arms. His camouflage disappeared and exposing who he really was. His hair was let down, he wore no makeup, it wasn't the usual Hisoka but Chrollo knew exactly who that was. Chrollo took off his mask and showed his face, the pale face with dashing doe eyes and cross tattoo in the middle of his forehead.

"Oh, _hello_, Chrollo, i can't believe we have to fight in such situation," Hisoka said. Having his bungee gum attached to Chrollo's legs.

Chrollo quickly summoned his Indoor fish while facing the red-haired man.

Joko wore off his camouflage as that plump lady. It became a short skinny man with brown skin, long unruly black hair that looked like it had not been washed for a month, and very very dark undereye wearing a long-sleeve black shirt and black pants that showed his ankle. His quickly stabbed the staff who held the tablet with poisonous knife to death. He quickly ran towards the stage. But, there was the man with katana in front of him, blocking his way.

"You're fighting with me, weirdo," Nobunaga pointed his katana to Joko's neck.

In the stage, there were Illumi, Killua, Machi, and Zhang. Illumi managed to morphed his body and escaped from the chain, he then free Killua from his chain as well.

While at The King's section, Hisoka and Chrollo were fighting. While, The King quickly choked Hidako's neck and lifted her body with his right hand until her feet couldn't touch the ground. The girl was gasping for breath, her hands were trying to get hold of the old man's hand that was choking her.

When Illumi saw his wife being choked by The King, he radiated bloodlust without him realizing it. Everyone in the room was distracted for a while.

"Oh what a _lovely_ husband and wife bond," Hisoka commented while he did another bungee gum to Chrollo, which he had avoided.

"You really are an unexpected little girl"

The King heard what Hisoka said and choked the girl even harder. Hidako was gasping for more air. Hidako suprisingly kicked The King's crotch while infusing heat into his crotch area, causing him to let go of his grip towards the girl. Hidako fell down, gasping for air. But, that did not stop the man from attacking the young woman. He pulled the young woman's leg and pulled her out of the venue to the private lift near his place.

Hisoka did not even budge or try to save Hidako, he was busy fighting with Chrollo.

Illumi who wanted to go to Hidako quickly got an attack from Machi. She tied him with her nen strings. He threw her pin needles. Causing her to let loose her strings. But, then he was faced by the huge dragon nen from Zhang, ready to shoot a fireball.

Killua quickly pushed Illumi's body and causing both of them to dodge the dragon's fireball. Killua and Illumi both stood up. Killua used his electric shock to attack Machi and the girl was electrified, combined with Illumi's needle attack. Machi was frozen. She couldn't move at all.

The one who's left on the stage was only the child molester with dragon-nen, Zhang. Both Killua and Illumi had their hands changed to be shaped like claws. Bloodlust was radiating from both of their bodies.

*

VVIP Room No. 21

It was the closest VVIP Room that could be reached from using the private lift that had the best security and the best lockdown system. The room's theme was futuristic, it was like a place from Star Trek.

"You fucking bitch! You destroyed all of my plans!" The King threw the woman to the floor. Hidako could feel the cold floor on her back and bruises all around her body. Her back arched because of the pain she had to endure.

The King went near the door and using his finger print scan to turn on the lockdown system.

"You will fucking pay," The man was a nen user, an enhancer. He easily threw the woman with his one hand to the sofa and ripped her silk kimono, exposing the young woman's nude-colored bra. His big rough hand went inside the inside her kimono and grabbed her thigh, his hand left a mark on her thigh. His right hand was going to hit her face.

"Please, don't!"

He was going to torture and violate the girl but then when he saw that view in front of him. He stopped. Tears were welling behind his eyes.

A young girl with blond hair, tied with blue ribbon and cerulean blue eyes, with skin as pale as snow, wearing a knee-length blue dress that was half ripped was lying beneath the old man. Her arms were protecting her face.

Tears were flowing through his eyes. It was her dead daughter, Claire. Even her voice sounded exactly the same. Tears blurred his vision. He missed his daughters so much.

"We can strike a deal, Mr. Archway," the view changed to Hidako again. The man wiped his tears with the hand he wanted to use to slap the young woman.

"You know what my power is, you saw my work. But, a lot don't know what else that i can do," Hidako said. Still with the weeping man on top of her. She displayed his daughters again behind her.

"Killing the Zoldycks won't let you be able to see your children again but i can ... only if you let go of me and the Zoldycks," Hidako looked right at his face who kept on looking at two blonde girls behind the woman under him.

"Claire, Beatrice, my daughters, my beautiful daughters," the man wept hard. But, the view slowly dispersed into dusts and he felt a knife penetrating his stomach. But, he did not budge much. Instead, he was looking at Hidako with fury in his eyes.

"You really want to die, don't you?!?" He moved both of his hands to choke the young woman's neck. Hidako quickly changed herself to become one of his daughters again. It was that girl with cerulean blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair he loved so much. The man was weeping but her hands were still choking her neck. She could feel his nails dug into her skin. But, the man kept on weeping with his hands on her neck. Hidako who was underneath him could feel the warmth of his tears falling on her neck and her face. She stayed as Claire.

The girl was squeaking, gasping for air. The poison that laced the knife started to kick in and it weakened the man. He let go of his hands. It left fresh red marks on her neck. He stood up, removing the knife from his stomach, throwing it away to the floor. Splattering his blood on the marble floor.

"Give me that few hours with my daughters, i'm letting the you and the Zoldycks go," He sat on the other sofa, while Hidako's staying in the same sofa, trying hard to sit upright and try to breathe normally after the series of The King's choking session.

Two teenage girls showed up, exactly the way they looked like the last time they came to Hidako's reading session. They were wearing blue dress and pink dress embellished with crystals that showed off their shoulders that made them looked like princesses from fairytales.

"Dad!" They looked cheerful. The way he remembered them before. They hugged their father and it felt exactly how they felt before. Warmth. Christian Archway couldn't stop crying. All the beautiful memories he had with his daughters came back in his head. From when they were babies, the moment when they spent time together, the moment when they had picnic near the river, the moment he took them to school, to the moment when he brought them to see their first opera.

Christian Archway took out his cellphone from his pocket and called Chrollo.

"Cancel the attacks on the Zoldycks"

Chrollo could hear his sobbing voice. Christian Archway was still massaging his nose bridge, trying hard to contain his tears.

Back at the auction venue, Chrollo shouted "The King said cancel the attacks!"

Nobunaga who was fighting with Joko stopped attacking with him. Joko, the scruffy unruly man quickly ran away from the Phantom Troupe members.

Nobunaga quickly came down and helped Machi to release herself from Illumi's pins. Then, they both walked to Chrollo.

Zhang stopped fighting. He had lost one of his arm because Killua stripped his arm off of his body. His outfit was ragged, he was bleeding from his thighs but they guy was still there, standing still, like nothing had happened to him, with his dragon nen all over the stage just few seconds before.

The two Zoldyck boys were standing there, also with ragged outfits, wounds all over their bodies and still with the claw-like hands.

"I'm out of this shit," Zhang said while walking away from the stage, joining Chrollo.

Chrollo stopped releasing his nen. No more indoor fish, no more attacks. He just dodged Hisoka's attack. When it was done, they were both had their suits ruined and wounds all over their bodies.

"I'm going to go now," Chrollo said to Hisoka while quickly escaping from the clown's attack using the private lift that was used by the King along with Nobunaga and Machi.

Hisoka then joined the brothers. "Hi, Illumi and _Killua_," Hisoka smirked. His smirk sent a shiver down to the young boy's spine. Joko then joined them. The brothers were looking at him like he was a strange creature. With his small stature, small eyes with very dark undereye and black color on his lower waterline, his long unruly hair and his brown skin that had a lot of wrinkles already, they were confused how that guy was included in that event.

"Hello, i'm Joko, i am Lady Hidako's bodyguard," Joko explained. His South East Azian accent was very obvious.

"Okay, whatever, let's just go upstair, i need to kill that rapist," Killua said, while quickly running to the other lift. Illumi, Joko and Hisoka followed the young boy into the lift. It was pretty awkward for four of them being in the same small closed space.

Once they arrived on the ground, they only saw Chrollo and Zhang in front of a room. A VVIP Room No. 21 with strange huge Aluminium door that can only be opened with finger print.

Killua who saw Zhang quickly attacked Zhang, he threw his yoyo and emitted electricity from it. Zhang was in pain but it didn't stop him. He released his nen, the dragon came out again and released fire ball to Killua, which he managed to dodge it and it ended up destroying the wall and the floor of the other room.

"Zhang, if you ruin another property, i'll make sure you won't be able to earn money again!" Chrollo interrupted the fight.

In few seconds, the door was opened. Chrollo quickly opened the door. All of them saw the King, with his swollen eyes on the sofa, with bleeding wound on his belly and Lady Hidako, sitting on another sofa, her kimono was torn, they all could see her nude-colored bra and her thighs. There were bruises on her body and red marks on her thigh and her neck.

Chrollo quickly ran to the King's side. The young man quickly ripped his white shirt to press on The King's bleeding wound.

"Chrollo, You'll fight Hisoka Morrow at Heaven's Arena next month," The King said it the young man. The words surprised Chrollo and caused Hisoka to smirk.

Hidako's eyes widened when she saw Zhang's face. Zhang could feel bloodlust radiating from the woman. She quickly stood up, picked her knife that was used to stab The King and ran to Zhang with her bare-feet.

"I think i've seen you somewhere before ... Oh! I remember! That princess from that Watasato Kingdom!" Zhang incited more anger from Hidako. But, Zhang easily stopped the attack. Instead, he grabbed her arm. "You know, i'd rape you first if you were ...," Zhang didn't manage to finish her words. Illumi had stealthily moved and quickly snatched Zhang's heart with his claws. The man fell down to the ground. His heart wet Illumi's hands with its blood. It was still beating.

Hidako took the heart from Illumi's hand and stabbed the beating heart with the knife. The knife she used to stab the man when she was a child. The heart stopped beating. He was dead. Completely dead. She left the knife in the heart. Hidako felt relief, tears came out of her eyes, she then lost stability, she fell on her husband's shoulder. Zhang's heart fell to the ground.

"Let's go..." Hidako looked up to him and requested him with tremulous voice. They all walked out of that room to the closest exit.

"Thank you, My Lady," Hisoka said, smiling viciously before leaving the Zoldycks. A black car appeared in front of the casino, a Zoldyck car. Killua, Illumi, and Hidako went inside the car. During the trip to the hotel, Hidako who was leaning on her husband's shoulder got a question from her husband.

"What did you do to secure the deal?" Illumi asked his wife. Black orbs gazing right into her small brown eyes.

"It is crazy what people would do just to meet their beloved ones, even if it's just their illusion," Hidako answered, following with her explaining in details about what had happened and how making The King to "meet" his daughters got her the Zoldycks' freedom and Hisoka's fight with Chrollo Lucilfer.

The staffs booked a separate room for Killua and the butlers helped in tending boy's wounds. Before Killua entered his room(which was located near from the couple's room), he said to his sister-in-law "Thank you" with blush on his face. Hidako replied with "You're welcome" and a smile.

Hidako and Illumi went to their own bedroom alone, just the two of them.

Both of them took off their outfits and exposed their naked bodies to each other. Illumi had few wounds, some of them were even burns(that were inflicted by Zhang). Hidako also took off her torn silk kimono, and underwear exposing her naked body. There were also few scratches, red marks and bluish lesions because of what The King had done to her. It was the first time Illumi saw Hidako being _blemished_ and at the same time, he felt jealousy. He had seen a proof that another man had touched her body. Illumi then stared deep into Hidako's brown eyes, lightly touching the red mark The King had inflicted on his wife's neck.

"Did you have sex with The King?"

The accusation startled the young woman. "No! I had told you about the deal! I never use and will never use sex as a bargaining point!" She was raising her voice.

Illumi pushed his wife to the bed. Her skin could feel the temperature of the bed sheet comforting her. He climbed on top of her and forced his kiss on her lips, she could feel his tongue was trying to ravage her mouth, she couldn't breathe with him trying to kiss her roughly like that. When she was trying to push her husband, Illumi's hand was on her neck, the exact place where The King had choked her, he was softly touching her neck, while his other hand held down one of her hands so she couldn't push her husband off of her body. He then broke their kiss and told his wife "You're my wife. You're _mine_. No one can touch you but me."

His wife was having her labored breathing because of his kiss. "Yes. I'm yours only, Illumi," she replied. He was pleased at her answer. He then walked to the bathroom, followed by his wife.

They both stood up in bathroom, facing each other's face without any strand of clothing material on their bodies. Hidako had already let down her hair as well but then she clipped it up so she could see all of her wounds.

He softly touched her neck, there was a red and bluish marks there, Hidako could feel his warm nen flowing through her skin, to the fat, muscle, nerves, bone and she could see that it was getting better though it did not disappear. The King was strong after all. Illumi also did that to her other wounds.

Hidako was surprised at how warm and pleasant his restorative nen was. She loved it when his dark orbs were gazing to her and when she could feel his nen flowing through her body. It was like a calm wave inside her body.

She also tried using her restorative nen to accelerate the healing of his wounds. She lightly touched his wounds and did the same to him.

When they were done with each other, they bathed together, like their first wedding night. They made out, tongues inside each other's mouth and her hands on his head. Their skin touched each other's, he could feel her breasts on her chest and her nipples getting hardened. Her finger touched his nipples and radiated ice cold feeling instead of electricity like the one she had ever done to him.

"I want to procreate," Illumi said while they were in the tub together, while panting together because of their kisses.

After they had finished bathing, they both resumed their activity on the bed. Illumi touched her red mark on her neck, causing Hidako to flinch because of the slight pain. He then lightly choked his wife. No one but him who could touch his wife. His right hand was on her thigh, the part where The King had touched her. His fingers them trailed it to her openings, massaging her clitoris, the girl was gasped.

Her back arched because of the feeling she was experiencing. He continued kissing her lips, her chin, her neck(where there was the red mark), her chest, swirling his tongue on her nipple, her abdomen then he kissed her clitoris. His index and middle finger went inside her opening, massaging the upper part of it. The girl was moaning.

"Illumi, i love you," She said to him, in the midst of her pre-orgasmic state.

Illumi smirked, he stood up. His black eyes were locked on her brown eyes. He could see her flushing cheeks and how she was lightly panting because of his action. It aroused him even more. He put his shaft inside hers and moved rhythmically. Both of them were moaning hard. They made love that night.

Illumi Zoldyck and Hidako Zoldyck had resumed their honeymoon.

**Note :**

**Hidako's original plan was to put them in private room so she could negotiate in safer environment with The King, instead chaos happened. She had known about the death of his daughters. But, at the end, she managed to negotiate with The King.**

**Her Ben's knife was acquired from Zhang. It was very poisonous at first but Hidako did not lace it with poison every time and i have this headcanon that the poison worn off every time she used the knife. **

**In the next chapter, it will revolve around the family drama again.**

**Thank you for the comments. I hope you like this chapter and please comment, if you don't mind. Because the comments really are the ones that keep me writing.**

Disclaimer : Hunter x Hunter belongs to Togashi


	12. Maternal Affection

**Chapter 12 : Maternal Affection **

Kikyou's pregnancy and birth with Illumi was something Kikyou would never forget.

Kikyou couldn't leave the mansion because she was weak she kept on vomiting, there were episodes of bleeding as well. Despite being newly married, Zeno did not let Silva to come home often to take care of his wife. Zeno gave him a lot of missions. The old man always hated Kikyou. But, that was the farthest thing he would do to torture Kikyou. Zeno did not want to pick another fight with his son. The thing Zeno had done only added to more stress to Kikyou's mind and body, which caused her pregnancy to be extremely stressful.

Kikyou broke her water when she was in the mansion. Silva was not there and Zeno did not care at all about it. She was lucky that few butlers would help her despite Zeno's commands to keep the least amount of contact with Silva's low-life wife. It was worse because the doctor was not at the mountain and she had to ask the butlers to help her delivery. One of the butlers fortunately ever helped a woman to give birth so she knew how prepare for giving birth. How there should be hot water, sterile gloves, sterile scissor, clamps to separate the baby from its placenta and needles and threads to stitch when the vagina was torn.

The pain was excruciating that time, with the stress and everything she had to face, she thought that she would die when she gave birth to Illumi. Kikyou gave birth on their marriage bed. Blood was all over the bed and there was no doctor around to help her if things went bad. When Kikyou pushed the baby out of her vagina, she was screaming continuously. He was a big baby and it took her quite some time to push him out of hers. His vagina was torn because of the size of her baby. Kikyou kept on screaming and crying. She stopped screaming when she heard her baby cried and when the female butler placed the dark haired baby boy to Kikyou's arm, it was no longer tears of pain, it was tears of joy that came out of her eyes and smile appeared on her face. She was so delighted at the sight of him, she felt like all her pain had disappeared immediately.

She kissed his forehead and sang him an old song her mother used to sing for her while one of the butler stitched her vagina and perineum. By becoming a mother, she had created another life, something she never thought she would become.

At night, after she gave birth that morning, Silva came home after a long mission. Kikyou was there resting on the bed with the baby. A dark-haired dark-eyed baby boy with skin as fair as Silva's. It was indeed his child.

The silver haired young man who still smelled like gunpowder sat at the edge of the bed and held his baby boy. The baby's small hand gripped his father's finger. A very wide smile erupted in his face. "My boy, my own sweet boy," Silva said with sparkling fascination in his blue eyes. Kikyou who was still exhausted and pale, slowly stood up and hugged her husband and smiled at the sight of their baby boy.

"Illumi, i'm naming him Illumi, because he is the light of our lives," Silva said.

After a month of honeymoon(and the whole Royal Archway issue), that afternoon, Hidako and Illumi arrived the Kukuroo mountain.

Hidako and Illumi grew closer and both of them realized that even though not a lot of people might realize that since both of them were private people. They did not kiss, hug, or even hold hands in public. But, when Illumi entered the mansion with less atrocious circus-y outfit, Kikyou knew that her son had changed because of his wife. They became even closer. Illumi's long hair was braided down and he was wearing simpler outfit, that moment, it was a grey and black ensembles, a grey shirt, black pants and darker colored vest to stick his needles at. Hidako entered the house wearing heels and a long-sleeve body-hugging green dress that stopped at her mid-calf and a darker colored green heels. She wore her hair up, secured with emerald pin on her hair.

_Green. Illumi's favorite color. That fucking bitch._

There were Kalluto and Kikyou waiting for them at the living room. Both of them chose to wear kimono instead of the French roccoco dress.

"Welcome home, my son," Kikyou flamboyantly hugged and kissed her son's cheek. She quickly clung her arm to her son's arm and walked with him.

"Brother, you wear your hair very differently," Kalluto commented on his brother.

"Hidako did my hair," The words that came out of Illumi's mouth only put even more anger in Kikyou's heart.

_He started to like that bitch even more._

"Oh, it's beautifully done, Lady Hidako," Kikyou commented. "Thank you, mother," she replied with a smile. Sometimes she wanted to puke every time Hidako called her "mother". She never wished to be called "mother" by a woman she did not approve. Especially from a spoiled _princess_ like Hidako.

*

That night, after dinner, Illumi was summoned to his parents' bed room. The main bed room was huge, it had its own living room. Silva and Kikyou sat at the dark purple sofa that was decorated with white fur. Silva was already wearing his kimono pajama and Kikyou, without her visor and her hair down, was wearing a yellow silk robe, tied in the middle. Illumi was standing in front of them, still wearing the outfit he used during dinner, the grey colored top and black pants. His hair was still braided but it was not tidy anymore. They could already smell the Hidako's perfume when Illumi had entered their bedroom, indicating that he was probably intimate with his wife right after the dinner.

"Why did you summon me?" Illumi was straight-forward.

"Sit down," Silva commanded his son and his son proceeded to sit down at the side sofa.

"We'd like to talk to you about your marriage," Silva started the conversation.

"I know you two had been very very close with each other lately. She is now a family. But ...," Silva stopped. "we'd like to remind you that she's not of our own blood," he added.

"Father, what are you insinuating?" Illumi asked with perplexity in his eyes.

"Therefore you still have to be very careful of her," Silva sighed. Illumi was on his honeymoon phase with Hidako. He knew that saying such stuff, especially after she had saved him in the Royal Archway incident, would probably create some kind of contradiction for Illumi. He was still a young man after all. But, Kikyou had been pestering him to talk to Illumi about that matter. He would listen to his father more than his mother, especially after Kikyou had tried to shoot Hidako with her umbrella-gun.

"You never really know someone until maybe 10 or 15 years of marriage with children of your own," Silva added after he saw confusion in Illumi's face.

"Yes, Illumi, that's why you have to be very careful of that wife of yours. She might look classy, nice and polite but you never really know what it is in her mind," Kikyou added. Her deep black orbs look to Illumi's eyes. It's been a long time since the last time he had seen his mother's eyes.

"Why are you so worried about her? What can she do to me anyway?" Illumi questioned her mother.

"She came from a different background from us. She's not an assassin or even a fighter. She dresses differently, speaks differently, acts differently and definitely thinks differently," Kikyou stood up and sat beside her son. She held his hand told him "Because we love you, Illumi. You're our son and we do not want you to fail in life just because of a woman."

"But, Hidako is my wife, who's being chosen directly by grandfather and she had passed your tests. She also saved me and Killua," Illumi defended his wife in polite tone. Silva could only sighed. Illumi reminded his father of the days when he was a young man. His eldest son, the one whom he thought was the perfectly obedient one and the cold blooded assassin, fell in love. Perhaps without Illumi himself realizing that. He was like that too when he fell in love, he was ready to go against Zeno just so he could marry Kikyou.

Silva never consider Hidako a threat. She never even exuded anything that seemed threatening for him. She might not be a fighter or assassin. But, she never seemed to be anyone who would manipulate the family and take his child away from the classic Zoldyck assassin ways. Even when he realized that his son was in love, or perhaps was just in honeymoon stage with his wife.

But, Kikyou was so persistent in convincing her husband that Hidako was a threat, how she was a princess, how she would just marry Illumi to win her kingdom back, how incompetent she would become as an assassin mother, how spoiled she was, how she would manipulate Illumi with her innocent charm that she had made up, and how she was the opposite of Kikyou. Kikyou's constant nagging was always Silva's weakness.

"So far, you only experience the good parts of her. You only know her for a while, you never know a person's heart. Just like your what father said, be careful," Kikyou said while holding Illumi's hand with both of her hands.

"You're dismissed," Silva ended their conversation.

After their son left the room, Silva was massaging his forehead. "Kikyou, how long do you want to do this? Illumi's an adult and so far Hidako hasn't made any issue ... maybe except that one when she almost killed Mike," Silva raised his voice. Kikyou came back to sit beside her husband, she cupped his face with his slender fingers and gazed right into his blue eyes "My love, i love my children so much, especially Illumi, i can't have her take my boy away from me" Her eyes were flooded with tears, Kikyou was very emotional. If there's one thing Silva can't resist, it was when his wife was crying in front of him.

"Okay ... i'll take matters into my own hands if things don't go in the right way," Silva promised to his wife.

"Thank you," Kikyou said before she softly kissed her husband's lips.

*

The activities at the Zoldyck mansion had already resumed to its own previous state. The men went out to work and the wives stayed in the mansion.

Illumi's honeymoon was completely over and he had to go on missions, some would take few weeks. Silva sometimes helped Illumi in some of his missions, and he could see the change in his child.

One day, they had a mission in York New city and they were passing a jewelry store. It surprised Silva when Illumi told him to go ahead first because he wanted to go to a jewelry store. It was a luxurious jewelry store with snake as its logo, they sell variety of accessories from earrings, necklaces, bracelets, watches, hairpins, and rings.

Instead of going first, he accompanied his child to go inside the store.

When they came in, the could smell perfume all over the room and the lighting made the jewelry sparkly. A male clerk appeared in front of them, he was a guy with perfectly trimmed beard and eyebrows wearing a suit, he asked Illumi with his feminine voice "What can i help you, mister?"

"I'm looking for a necklace for my wife," Illumi replied.

"Oooh ... what a lucky woman ... i'll show you," the male clerk said while accompanying Illumi to the necklace section that was kept in glass box.

There were variety of necklaces in the glass box. But, the one that caught Illumi's eyes was the small and thin gold snake shaped necklace that was embellished with diamond and with its eyes made of emeralds.

"Excellent choice, sir. I'll prepare it for you," the clerk said while preparing for the necklace to be put in a gift box and wrapped.

Silva was observing his child at the shop. His child reminded him of his young self. He remembered having a mission in Tokio and spent few hours at an expensive kimono shop just to buy a kimono for Kikyou. He giggled at the fact that his stoic ruthless eldest son had acted exactly like he was back then.

Illumi might not talk much or even show a lot of emotions or physical contact in front of everyone but as a father, Silva could really read how Illumi was definitely in love with his wife. He let her do his hair. He actually defended her instead of nodding and saying "yes" to his commands about his wife. He bought her jewelry by his own. _Things people do to make their beloved ones happy._

And it did not happen only once. Everytime they had a long mission, Illumi would buy his wife accessories she'd love. Sometimes it's hairpin, fancy bookmark, ring, necklace, bracelet, and et cetera.

After almost a year of observing his son, Silva talked about their son again to Kikyou. It was already late and they both were on their bed. Silva sat up and called his wife's name.

"Kikyou, Illumi has _changed_," Silva sternly said it, emphasizing on the "changed" part.

"For fuck's sake, of course he has _changed_ and for the worse!Definitely because of that princess-y bitch, Hidako," Kikyou responded with voice as explosive as shooting gun.

"It's not exactly a bad change, when we were at the mission, he bought female jewelries for his wife," Silva said.

"See? Gifts! That girl is a whore! Probably she would only let Illumi sleep with her if he bought her jewels" Kikyou sat up right and said it frantically, her eyes were filled with anger.

"What the hell, Kikyou?!?" Silva was bewildered at his wife's statement. He was shook that his wife would come up with that conclusion. Hidako came from a rich family, why would she do that. It's not like she needed those to live.

"Now, _think_, Silva,how can you explain of her not being pregnant after almost a year of marriage when it was obvious that both Illumi and her were considered fertile during the health test?" Kikyou explained.

"So you think it's because they did not have enough sex because she did not let him sleep with her unless he brought her gifts even though she is a rich woman?" Silva was stunned at his wife's accusation.

"Yes," Kikyou nodded. "Kikyou, you gotta be kidding me" Silva commented. "You know that old man Zeno is all about money, right? It's possible that he specifically chose that whore because she's as materialistic as he is. Similarity attracts!" Kikyou explained more, there was both anger and exhilaration in her eyes.

"Kikyou, you're crazy, i'm going to sleep, i have a mission tomorrow, nothing goes wrong so far, i really don't want to deal with this matter anymore unless something really goes wrong with their marriage," Silva said while turning off the lamp from his side of the bed and dozed off.

"Urgh!" Kikyou muttered in her irritation. But, she's a persistent woman in achieving her goals, she would make life hell for Hidako and if no one would help her, she would not mind doing it by herself.

*

Illumi's and Hidako's bed room. Night after he came back from the mission.

The lamps were mostly turned off, only few small lamps were turned on in his room. It was a big room with big bed. His bedroom was the perfect combination of Yordian and Azian style. The Yordian furnitures were combined with Azian style wallpapers(Illumi loved the Jappones wave and crane patterns) and accessories. The dark green velvet small sofa located in front of their bed only complimented the aesthetic of their dark but comfortable room.

The couple lied down on the bed, naked. They were having intercourse just few minutes before. Both of them were panting and sweating on their soft bed sheet.

Hidako slowly turned her body around so her stomach would be the one touching the bed, so she could see her panting husband's face clearly.

"The earrings look good on you," Illumi complimented the small dangling gold earrings with ruby he had just bought for her. She replied with a smile and a kiss on his lips.

"Illumi, can i ask you something about your family?" Hidako asked. Illumi nodded in agreement. "Why is Killua the heir and not you?" She had waited a long time just to ask him that.

Killua was very reluctant in becoming the heir and from Hidako's judgement, he was not exactly a good candidate in becoming the heir. The boy practically spent all his fortune(his freedom and life too) to gamble at the Royal Archway. He might be a good assassin but he did not have control over himself when it comes to money, the family would've gone bankrupt if they had such boy as the heir.

"Why did you ask that?" Illumi replied her with a question while he moved to lie on the side of his body and brushed Hidako's hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"You're a good ... no .. you're the perfect assassin, you have good control over yourself and in my former kingdom, it was always the eldest son who became the successor" Hidako replied. His black orbs were locked to her brown eyes. "While Killua, ... you know ... he gambled all of his fortune and it was the cause of the Royal Archway incident."

"Killua is always more talented than me, he achieved a lot more than what i could achieve when i was his age," Illumi replied. Hidako softly touched Illumi's face with her thin fingers. "I trust you more than him in becoming the heir. I don't understand how your family let a kid who completely has no control towards his own desire be the Zoldyck heir," Hidako said to her husband, her eyes locked unto his. It was the first time after Killua had been born that Illumi heard the word of someone would choose him being the heir from someone's mouth.

"My mother used to tell me how important it is to have financial control to run a kingdom, it should not be much different in running a house that's intended to last for decades," Her fingers trailed into his clavicle and his chest with eyes that were following the movement of his fingers. He then exuded more electricity from her fingers, causing him to twitch and to be pleased from it. She then flirtatiously smiled and it was followed with Illumi kissing the young woman in front of him.

*

It was another day in the Zoldyck mansion, with all the Zoldyck men going out for missions. The ladies stayed inside the mansion.

Hidako woke up with a message that was being sent to her by a male butler, Hishita, the guy who usually sent messages to the Zoldyck members. He sent her a bouquet of dark red roses covered with combination of black and green papers and there was a small letter inside the bouquet. It was typed using the old typing machine.

_Meet me at the torture room tonight at 6:30 PM._

Hidako remembered that day was their first year anniversary and Illumi told her that he would come back that day at night. She never expected that her husband would be a romantic guy for their first year anniversary. She felt so happy, she even felt like there were butterflies in her stomach. She had told him that she did not mind trying bondage sex knowing that the Zoldycks also had torture room in their mansion.

Hidako considered their one year of marriage _alright_. Kikyou was not as aggressive as before, her relationship with Killua definitely improved because the Royal Archway incident and since both Zeno and Illumi always defended her, the other siblings said nothing bad to her, and the butlers loved her. She believed things would definitely be better for her. She also wanted to surprise Illumi that day, with her pregnancy as a surprise from her for their anniversary.

Hidako's mood was very _very_ good that day. She knew at how much Illumi loved seeing her in a green silk kimono with crane pattern. She wore that kimono that day with dangling emerald earrings he had bought her before. He liked her hair long and straight so she did not put it up, she let the hair down with a small gold pin at the lateral side of her hair.

She had prepared him a present as well, a dark green velvet box filled with an emerald necklace with pendant that's shaped like a snake head and underneath it was the test pack result.

As the note said, Hidako appeared in the torture room right at 6:30 PM with the box in her hands. The room made of stones and it was cold, and it was filled with a lot of torture devices in it. She was wearing a kimono so she stepped down slowly through the stone stairs.

When she arrived inside the room, she walked around while calling her husband's name "Illumi, where are you?" "Illumi!" She could hear her own voice echoed in that torture room. She was walking slow and in relaxed manner. She did not expect anything aside perhaps some bondage play her husband would probably do to her inside the torture room.

But, she did not find her husband. Instead, a man suddenly appeared behind her. He was a blonde man with black suit, he grabbed her from behind and put a handkerchief soaked with chloroform on her mouth, causing her to lose her consciousness and dropped the box.

Hidako could feel the rough texture of the stone and the coldness of it behind her back. She was lying on a stone table half-conscious. She could feel that her extremities felt extremely heavy. Her kimono was slightly opened and it exposed her underwear beneath the kimono. Hishita moved forwards towards Hidako, he unclasped her bra with his hand(the clasp was located in front) and his other hand forcefully took off Hidako's panties.

"Hishita, stop! Please stop!" Hidako tried to kick him but she failed, it was like there were heavy items that caused her not being able to move her legs and he was a lot stronger than her. She tried to inflict burning sensation to his body but he did not budge. She tried to inflict every single pain sensation she remembered at that time but the man didn't budge at all. Instead, he managed to take off her panties.

Hishita unbuttoned his pants and pulled down his underwear. His was fully erect. He then spread Hidako's legs, exposing her vagina. Hidako was screaming. Her body couldn't move. The man was too strong for her. She couldn't kick him away, both of his hands were holding her legs so they would stay open.

He entered her forcefully. Hot tears came out of Hidako's eyes, she screamed but no one came for help and the man in front of her did not stop either. He was standing when he was entering her. She felt burning pain inside her vagina. His shaft stretched and chafed her vagina. She was dry. She wasn't ready when he entered her. He moved back and forth. All Hidako wished that he would stop or somebody would save her. Hishita moved like a robot, his eyes were like dolls, soulless, and he did not even look at her or moaned or did anything that resembled normal human having sex when he raped her. Despite all that, all Hidako felt was pain, tears couldn't stop running through her eyes. Her memory traveled back to when Zhang tried to rape her and then when she saw Hishita, she saw the dead man's face, his hazel eyes staring at her brown eyes, smirking, like he had just won a match. Her sight was hazy and she could only focus on the stone roof above her. She didn't know was it because of her tears of because she was still half-conscious. All she knew was that she was powerless. She felt like all her energy was sucked out of her body that she did not even have the energy to scream or cry anymore.

Suddenly, Hishita's movement stopped. Few long needles with round ends stabbed into Hishita's neck and head. The man fell down to the ground. His head hit the stone floor, causing it to bleed. There was pool of blood on the floor.

Illumi was radiating bloodlust that sent shiver to Hidako's vertebrae. Her legs and arms still felt heavy but she tried to sit up and reach her husband. Tears were flowing through her eyes.

"I can't believe you cheated on me with a _low-life_ roach," Illumi still radiated his bloodlust. "Illumi, he raped me ... i did not cheat on you .. please trust me," Hidako was stuttering with her barely audible voice, she was shocked when she heard her husband's words. She wished she could reach him but the weight on her extremities was still there. She was shaking at disbelief that her husband accused her of cheating.

Illumi stayed silent but his hand moved to the back of her neck. He then inserted a needle in her neck. She was immediately falling into unconscious state.

**Note :**

**Another week, another chapter.**

**First of all, i would like to thank all the readers, especially those who had commented.**

**There's a lot of Kikyou and Silva in this chapter. In short, Zeno disliked Kikyou(as explained in the previous chapter) but he never dislikes Illumi because he's his first grandchild(which at first he did not care but he was pretty neutral about him and it took time for him to develop that grandfather-y feeling) and he was indeed the perfect assassin. But, Zeno still disapproved about Illumi being the heir because his judgement was still not good enough(e.g. : Election Arc, when he used a mass to chase Killua) and efficent judgment is needed since running an assassin family is still _a business_.**

**After 11 chapters i can actually decide Hidako's nen type. At first, i thought that she would be conjurer(and then there's also a comment saying that she could be a manipulator). But, in term of nen, in order to project the illusion, there were terms to be met, which is often the characteristic of a specialist. She conjured illusion. But, her personality did not support the conjuration as her nen-type. While she had her own manipulative side(though not much), her nen could not be considered as manipulation since she could not control people's mind. She basically projected what she had wanted to project and the projection(at least until this chapter) was projected like a hyper-realistic hologram(with the heat etc) or a hyper-realistic 4D movie but never in hyper-realistic VR style where she could change the whole environment(so, it is totally different with the way what Itachi Uchiha could do with his infinite tsukuyomi). But, she was charismatic, she always tried to find what people desired, she would project their desire and that kind of attitude and ability drew people to her. She couldn't be considered classically independent. But, she was independent in term of being able to know a lot of people without being close friend with any of them. She did not even tell a lot of details of her past life to her husband though they'd been married for a year. She also had fixation towards her past(as in being a princess and wanting to get revenge to Zhang till the point it sometimes appeared in her dreams) and Taka had fed her fixation with treating her like a princess and taught her the traditional beliefs they always upheld for (especially) the royals. But, he had also caged her a lot though people come and go to see her performance, she did not come out that often, her curiosity was satiated through the books and movies she got to enjoy and sometimes Taka would bring her to see live shows(from the decent to the indecent ones). She's a lot like Neon Nostrade but she still turned out less-naive because of how Taka had taught her to be and she probably met people more often than Neon and she had her manipulative side, just like Chrollo. Which led me to conclusion that she's a specialist.**

**Next chapter will feature more family drama of course and more insight from Illumi.**

**Please leave comments for they are the ones that keep me writing!**

Disclaimer : Hunter x Hunter belongs to Togashi


	13. A Woman’s Tears

**Chapter 13 : A Woman's Tears Are Ones of Her Strongest Weapons**

Zoldyck Mansion - Illumi's Hidako's bedroom. 

Illumi had just came back from his mission. He went inside the room, still smelling like blood himself. He was wearing a puffy sleeve top with vest on that was slightly torn with few blood spots on it. He saw that there was no one else in the room but at the table, lied a bouquet of roses with a card in it. A definitely romance-related message from someone who was not him.

_Meet me at the torture room tonight at 6:30 PM_.

Illumi quickly ran out of his room and reached the torture room, when he opened the door and walked inside, he saw a view he thought was in his imagination before.

The blond butler was _fucking_ his wife. She was just there, lying down on the stone table with her breast exposed and she was wearing the earrings he had given her.

His blood burnt and he felt anger was radiating through his vein. He took the biggest needles from his vest and threw them away to the butler. The butler fell to the stone ground and his blood was all over the floor. A quick death for the adulterer.

His wife was lying there, her body was shaking and there was opaque white liquid coming out of her vagina. The sight sickened him. He never thought that Hidako would have the audacity to cheat on him at the barely-used torture room with a butler.

"Illumi, he raped me ... i did not cheat on you .. please trust me," She pleaded to him. Her voice was weak and it was barely audible. Illumi did not even bother to listen to her words. He was already consumed in anger that he couldn't even think clearly at that moment. He quickly inserted a needle into her neck just so she would be unconscious. He did not want to throw his tantrums on her even more.

"He really _fucked_ her hard, look at that cum dripping out ... i can even see it on her legs," Illumi was consumed in his anger that he did not realize that his brother Milluki was there, walking to him from behind and stopped right in front of her unconscious body.

"Shut up!" Illumi shouted to his brother. His aura itself already scared his younger brother. Milluki stepped away from her body.

"O ... okay .. i was going to call you for dinner ... guess i'll just call a butler to carry your wife," Milluki answered while going out of the room.

*

It did not take long for the news to be known by the family members.

They immediately discussed about it during the dinner, Illumi was just quiet. He felt angry and sad but at the same time he had no idea what to do beside inserting another needle inside her so she'd become even more obedient. The family members were more talkative about deciding what to do to his wife than him.

"I never expected Lady Hidako as someone who would cheat especially with a butler but guess you don't know what's inside a woman's heart," Silva commented.

"Man, it was definitely a good hard _fuck_, i saw his cum dripping on her legs," Milluki and his indecent comment.

"I never like Lady Hidako, i only respect her out of brother," Kalluto commented, while continued to eat the appetizer.

"See! That girl is a whore! Illumi, you should have killed her at that moment she fucked Hishita!" Kikyou commented vivaciously.

"Shut up, Kikyou! No one's killing Lady Hidako. Taka is my good friend and killing Hidako would only add more pointless enemy!" Zeno looked very heartbroken as well when he heard the story. But, the man did not let emotion take control of him.

"I'm going to talk to Taka tomorrow, perhaps we can send her back to Taka," Zeno continued. He specifically gazed at Illumi. The young man was just there, he was being really quiet, he barely touched his food and he did not comment at all.

"Illumi, how about you?" Zeno asked. "I don't know, i excuse myself for now," Illumi put down his fork and stood up and left the dining room. The family could see how the event had upseted him.

He went inside his bedroom. The room still smelled like Hidako and there were her items everywhere around the room. He felt heaviness in his chest, he did not know what to do beside putting more needle so she would be more obedient of him. It was like when Killua chose his friends over him but it was a lot worse, he never felt something like that before.

Illumi was lying on his bed. But, when he closed his eyes, the sight of the blond man _fucking_ his wife did not leave his mind. A knock on the door caused him to stand up and opened the door. He saw his mother, dressed in her purple rococo dress appeared in front of him, with a tray of salmon and rice on her hands. He let her in.

She put the food on the table and then sat on the bed.

"My dear son, are you alright? You don't touch your food at all even though you have just come back from a long mission," Kikyou asked, while acting all worried to her son.

"I'll eat," Illumi sat in front of the table and used the chopstick to pick the salmon and the rice and then put them in his mouth. Illumi knew that the food was good enough but he did not enjoy eating it as if it was bland. He stopped eating it.

"Why do you stop eating the food?Salmon teriyaki's your favorite!" Kikyou commented. "It doesn't taste good, mother," Illumi replied. Everything felt so weird for him. It was his first time experiencing something like that.

"You must feel sad that it starts to affect your tongue,come here, Illumi" Kikyou commented while tapping the bed. Illumi obeyed and he sat beside his mother. His mother gently brought his head to lie on her thighs. It was like when he was a child.

"You're a dumb boy, falling in love with a cunning woman who doesn't value her family ... A woman like Hidako only married you so she could gain more influence to the underground world, so she and that old man Taka could enrich himself, those capitalists would never understand the way of assassin," Kikyou said while brushing his long black hair with her frail fingers. Illumi's black orbs were staring at his mother's eyes.

"She clearly doesn't love you, she wouldn't have cheated with the butler if she loves you," She added, Illumi didn't reply his mother with any word. He didn't react either. He was too disheartened to even react.

*

Kikyou came back to her own bed room. Her very _own_ bedroom, not the one she shared with Silva.

She felt relieved that her plan worked. Her son actually believed that Hidako was the one who cheated on him with a butler.

Kikyou specifically chose Hishita because he was the one who usually had the task to bring messages to Hidako and he was pretty young, not as old as the other butlers and the man's not a nen-user which made him a perfect target for manipulation. After he made Hidako unconscious, Kikyou put the manipulation _spell_ on Hishita and her. When it came to Hidako, he used drugs involved so she would be dizzy and only less than half-conscious.

Kikyou locked the door after she had entered the room. Her eyes were fixated to the green velvet box Hidako had dropped when Hishita made the young woman unconscious, she had put the velvet box on the table.

She slowly opened the box only to find a necklace with emerald pendant in it and when she looked even closer, there was something underneath it, a positive-result test pack.

_That bitch is pregnant. _

Kikyou threw the result to the floor out of anger. She wanted to scream but if she did, Silva would've heard her hysterical scream. She breathed slowly, she had to calm down. She knew she had to devise another plan. Kikyou knew exactly how Zoldycks valued their own blood. Zeno wouldn't have let Kikyou got married to Silva if she was not pregnant, no matter how many butlers she killed. If the men knew that Hidako was pregnant, she would definitely sin and all of her past sins would be forgiven.

Hidako's Bed Room.

The sun shone brightly that day, the warmth could even be felt inside the lady's very own bed room. Hidako woke up feeling light headed. The last thing she remembered was Hishita raping her and Illumi not trusting her. When the memory came back to her mind, tears were rolling out of her eyes, wetting her face. She was sobbing. What hurt her the most was Illumi's disbelief.

Suddenly few knocks on the door diverted her attention. A young black girl opened her door.

"Lady Hidako, can i come in?" She was wearing a suit, just like any other Zoldyck butler. When she saw Hidako crying, she quickly took a box of tissue from the other side of the bed and gave it to Hidako.

The room was still dark. The curtain was still closed.

"Canary, do you believe that i cheated on Illumi? You're the one who's often with me and you're the one who was with me at Heaven's Arena" Hidako's eyes were red and swollen because of crying.

"I'm sorry Lady Hidako but a butler like me should have no comment for such sensitive matter," Canary replied her. But, her eyes showed at how much she could empathize Hidako.

"Canary, you know that you can tell me the truth, there is no one here but us," Hidako held the young girl's hand. The young girl could really feel Hidako's sadness.

Another knock was on her door, interrupting Canary's and Hidako's interaction. Canary opened the door, there was Tsubone in front of the door. "Mr. Zeno wants to see Lady Hidako," Tsubone requested, she peeked inside her bedroom. The old woman could see how devastated the lady was. Her small face was swollen, her eyes were red and tears kept on flowing out of her eyes. She was still in her blue sleeping robe on her bed.

Both Tsubone and Canary did not believe that Lady Hidako had cheated on Illumi. It was a very personal matter for both of them. The lady quickly took a quick bath and changed into a simple dark blue kimono, she did not do her hair, and did not put make up on. She went out of the room looking so unlike her usual self.

She was escorted by Canary and Tsubone to the private theatre, where Zeno usually watched his movie collection. He was sitting there, looking stern while watching a classic noir movie being projected to the white screen. Tsubone and Canary were waiting there, standing behind the theatre.

"Lady Hidako, please sit," Zeno asked her to sit down beside him. Hidako could only follow his order.

"I've called Taka. He was ashamed of you and he said that we can send you back to your house if we don't want to accept you anymore," Zeno said. He did not even bother to look at Hidako's face. The words had made Hidako bursted in tears, she suddenly knelt down in front of Zeno and touched his hand. "Please, Grandfather Zeno, i love Illumi and i did not cheat, that blond butler raped me," Hidako pleaded with tears all over her face. It was the first time Zeno saw Hidako begging, with tears all over the face.

"Hidako, i can't have an adulterer married to my grandson. Not even for Illumi," Zeno slowly pulled his hand away from Hidako, only causing her to weep even more. He could feel her sadness and he was also disappointed at Hidako. Zeno had such high hope to the former princess.

"Please ... i'm pregnant with Illumi's child right now, the baby needs his father," She was frantically pleading to him. She then quickly projected the scene from her point of view when she was raped by Hishita. She projected the blond man's face, his body and his genitalia, the coldness of the stone, and her pain when he entered her by force. His face was like a lifeless doll, there was no passion at all when he fucked her.

"Hidako, stop!" Zeno shouted to Hidako, he was shocked at Hidako's words more than the projection she did for him. The butlers also saw the whole scene featuring Hidako getting raped by Hishita. Canary obviously trusted Hidako, she liked her as a master. Tsubone was being neutral but the sight of doll-like Hishita raping Hidako caused her to feel sick to the stomach.

"Okay, i will look upon this matter. If you really know how to prove that the baby's yours then probably ... probably Illumi might still be married with you, for now i'll let you stay in the mansion for another three weeks before i send you back to Taka ," Zeno told the weeping woman with heavy heart. He wanted to believe that the butler was raping her but there's not enough proof for that.

"Thank you, grandfather," Hidako replied with her sobbing voice.

*

Zeoul, West Gorteau.

Two guys were on the roof of a building in the middle of the night. One had a long black hair and the other one was a young boy with silver hair. They had the same target, a nen user hunter who was hated by his own wife that he would like him to be dead. They were peering in front if a hotel from the roof. They wanted to find the room where he was fornicating.

It was hard for them to find him because he was booking 5 different rooms with different floors. Since it was impossible hacking into the 5-stars' hotel computer system, Illumi chose the manual way. His target was also a very strong nen-user and his partner was also a strong nen-user, that Illumi partnered up with Killua to join him as a precaution.

Killua was holding a photo of a 55 years old man with brunette hair and small blue eyes and tanned skin. His wife hated him because he cheated on her so many times with so many women and he was rich, she would want his money all for herself.

Illumi was extremely quiet that day. He was still pissed and it was obvious. He did not style his hair the way Hidako taught him to, he just let it down.

Killua had heard the story from Canary and it became the topic every single dinner they had. Illumi stayed quiet even during the dinner. Killua never thought his brother could actually love like that. Killua himself was actually pretty pleased by Hidako's presence, his odd brother actually chose to be more obsessive of his wife instead of him. Illumi obviously liked Hidako and he saw her, the way he saw Killua back then. A legit family member.

"Brother, i know it's not my business but i don't think she cheated," Killua commented, as he actually wanted them to be together, she certainly liked him and Illumi also liked her. It was good for both of them, and it was also good for Killua since Illumi would not be pestering him anymore.

Illumi didn't respond. They both stayed quiet and kept on staring at the rooms. Killua could see how his brother turned even colder than before.

"Brother, why would she cheat on you? She loves you, she wouldn't have risked her life saving us from Mr. Archway if she did not love you," Killua added, with more enthusiasm in his voice. But, Illumi still did not budge

"Or you could have put needles or whatever in her to keep her obedient to you if you really believe she cheated!" Killua said, he himself did not believe he just say that. It was an unpleasant experience to have needles inside of him but Killua really did not want Illumi pestering him and with Hidako around, Illumi would never pester Killua, especially if one day, they had a child, Killua definitely would be out of picture.

Illumi gazed back at the young boy. The idea of putting the needles had crossed his mind and at some points, he was really comfortable with Hidako, if the problem was her being an adulterer, he could just put her in a setting so she wouldn't do such thing again. The way he had done to Killua back then. It worked really well before Killua forced to take the needles out of his head.

It was too long to wait for them so Killua took out a firework from his pocket and light them up, causing it to burst into the sky and caused a strong voice. The curtain was suddenly opened by a lot of the hotel guests. Illumi could definitely see which one was the target. A Yordian man with brunette hair and blue eyes, he looked fit even in his fifties. His lover was a young woman, around twenties, with long pink hair and grey eyes with slender figure. The man was topless, wearing only his dark blue boxer and the girl was wearing a white baby doll lingerie.

"I'll kill the man, you take care of his lover," Illumi said that before kicking the glasses and throwing needles to his target. Killua came to the girl and shocked her with his electricity technique. The girl didn't budge, instead she grabbed Killua's arm and threw him to the wall. The girl was an Enhancer.

But, Illumi's needles managed to penetrate the back of his neck, paralyzed the man. He took the man hostage. Killua stood up and then used rhythm echo to confuse the slender girl. She stayed still in the middle. She knew that it would be futile to attack Killua.

"Crack" a voice of bone cracking and the man's neck being broken, caused the young girl to be hysterical.

"You .. you just killed Mr. Lucal!" The girl, with all of her power was throwing a punch to Illumi but he dodged, instead he put a needle in her, causing her to be paralyzed. Illumi choked her neck and lifted her up. His black orbs were filled in bloodlust when he saw her, the memory of Hishita and Hidako came unto him and caused to anger him. The sight of the man scared the young girl, he looked like a monster.

"You know, i fucking hate adulterers," Illumi growled while tightening his hands between her neck. The girl was gasping for air and she could not do anything because she was paralyzed "Brother! She hadn't written the homicide suicide note!!" Killua shouted to stop Illumi from murdering her.

The plan was to kill the man and made it looked like that he was killed by his lover. Illumi then inserted more needles inside the woman and that controlled her to write down the homicide/suicide note. She turned into a puppet and used a belt to hang herself to death.

It was the first time that Killua had seen Illumi lost control during their joint mission. He was always the perfect assassin, doing exactly how it was requested. But, at that point, Killua realized that despite his horrific borderline-satanic killer machine facade, his brother was still a human after all.

*

Zoldyck Mansion, Kukuroo Mountain

The mansion had its own pond filled with many fish, with many variety. Killua was always the kid who could be close to animal compared with the others and he took solace in coming to the pond and feeding the fish.

That day, Killua was feeding the fish in the pond. He found solace in feeding animals, including fish. Canary was the one accompanying him during his activity.

Suddenly, in the middle of throwing pellets to the pond, a voice of geta hitting the ground disturbed him. He turned his head back, and he saw Lady Hidako, looking really plain, with a dark blue dress and no make up on her face, and she let her hair down, long and black and straight. She looked really sad and tired. She looked devastated.

"Killua, i'm very sorry about the Mike incident," Hidako opened their conversation. "It's a long time ago, i've forgiven you already, beside, you've saved me and brother Illumi at Royal Archway" Killua replied her with a smile in his face. "How was Illumi during his last mission? I miss him so much, i haven't seen him at all in weeks," Hidako asked, her face showed at how concerned she was of him. Her eyes looked really puffy and red, she probably had cried a lot, he thought. "Brother was ... distracted. He thought a lot about you though," Killua replied, Hidako's eyes widened when she heard that Illumi was still concerned about her. "I wish i could reach him, i didn't cheat at all, i was raped and what hurts the most is that Illumi doesn't believe me," Hidako muttered to Killua with tears welling behind her eyes, the boy just listened at his sister-in-law. "Sister Hidako, honestly ... i trust you," Killua commented, Hidako felt hope after so many rejections,like there was the light at the end of the tunnel when the boy told her. "Thank you, Killua," Hidako told Killua, her sad no-makeup face was so new to Killua, especially when she said "thank you", it's like all of the perfect arrogant lady facade just disappeared in front of him.

"Sister Hidako, i actually would like to help you, do you have any idea where to start?" Killua asked with a smirk, hot tears came out of her eyes, she felt relieved.

"Thank you," she replied and then she grabbed the silver-haired boy's hand and released her nen.

**Note :**

**First, i'd like to thank you for the comments, especially for the one that makes me want to write about Silva's and Kikyou's background. I will write it.**

**After the rape incident, Hidako was being separated with Illumi. She slept in another room and Silva sent Illumi on missions, he thought that it would keep his son distracted. I hope i didn't mess up on Illumi's sadness, Illumi's a very complex character to write. **

**Hope you'll like it and please send some reviews/comments for they are the ones that keep me writing! **


	14. Foolish Love

**Chapter 14 : Foolish Love**

_Zoldyck Mansion. Kukuroo Mountain. _

It was late at night, Illumi had just came back from a mission alone. All the disagreement from his family members put pressure to him. During the previous mission, Silva had already told him about letting Hidako go, it wasn't worth it to keep an adulterer under the house. Kikyou was very much against having a "_whore_" inside the Zoldyck mansion and how there'd be a fake Zoldyck in the house if Illumi stayed married to her. Zeno was the only Zoldyck adults he had not talked about. Illumi kept thinking about it, both his parents definitely rejected Hidako and told him to divorce her. He still wanted to be with her, Illumi had not had a child with her, that also meant that the family would marry him off to another woman. He could not bear the thought of marrying another new person, and getting along with new person again. She had hurt him but the idea of letting her go out of his life would be even more hurtful.

Illumi had been walking in the hallway with blue wallpaper and paintings of chinese soldiers and dragons that led him to Zeno's chamber. He thought that by seeking his grandfather who's highly fond of Hidako, it would give him more solace. When he arrived in front of Zeno's working chamber, he knocked and opened the door. The working chamber was a huge space with lots of books, and tall stairs, there was also a smaller space filled with a bed, a table, and few seats, there were also sofa around it.

There was his grandfather, who was reading the book while sitting at one of the sofas. "Illumi, what do you want?" Zeno did not even look at him, his eyes were fixated on the book. Illumi sat down at the sofa in front of Zeno.

"Grandfather, will you please extend Hidako's time here?" Illumi pleaded to his grandfather. It was the first time Zeno heard the man pleaded to him. "I gave her extra two weeks and until now there is not enough proof that she was not cheating with the butler, Hishita was always the guy who delivered items to her and he's the young male butler who had the most contact with her, it's very possible that she'd cheat," Zeno closed his book and put it beside him. "I would do any mission you arrange me for," Illumi kept on begging. "You love her, don't you?" Zeno looked at his grandson. It reminded him when he talked to Silva about his disagreement to marry Kikyou and how Silva was persistent in begging him. Illumi could only nod. "I also like Hidako, Illumi. But, cheating is a habit and i am also as disappointed in Hidako as you are," Zeno replied his grandson. "Grandfather, is that the possibility of her cheating again in the future that puts you in disagreement of keeping her?" Illumi asked back to his grandfather. Zeno looked at his grandson with suspicion in his eyes. He only nodded, he didn't say anything to Illumi.

"I'll make her not being able to do it again," Illumi stood. Zeno knew that his grandson would do whatever it took for his goal. Even the most indecent way.

"Do whatever you want but don't hurt or kill her, i don't want to fight with Taka and his cronies, i'll give you a month or two if you can do that," Zeno commented, his eyes were locked at the young man's black orbs. "I'll handle it," Illumi stood up and walked away from the sofa.

"Illumi," Zeno stopped his grandson. Illumi turned his face to Zeno's. "Hidako told me that she's pregnant" Zeno replied him. Illumi's breath went rapid when he heard that and he quickly walked out of the room. The possibility of the baby being a Zoldyck could mean that they would let Hidako stay married to him. He just needed few more weeks before the doctors could test her for the paternity test.

*

_CCTV Room. Zoldyck's Mansion, Kukuroo Mountain._

"Pleaseeee," Killua practically begged with his puppy eyes to Tsubone. Since Gotoh was gone, Tsubone had became the head butler who held all the operational keys of the Zoldyck mansion.

"Fine!I'll expect the key to be back in one hour," Tsubone sighed, she actually guessed that he would borrow the key to access old CCTV files to possibly help Hidako and as a woman and a grandmother who had witnessed the horror that was projected by Hidako, she let Killua hold the key. Tsubone did not want to be involved with Hidako's incident. She might dislike Kikyou and her black haired kids but she knew that Hidako was definitely different from Kikyou and those black haired Zoldyck kids and she and her grand daughter still wanted to serve the family in good term with all of the members.

Killua quickly searched for the CCTV on that day when Hidako was raped in the torture room. There was only the moment when semi-unconscious Hidako was already lying on the table with Hishita pusing back and forth. Killua blushed when he had seen the scene, not because he had never seen sex scene before, but because it involved someone he knew. But, there was no moment before it to prove that Hidako was coerced, the video before that scene was only filled with Hidako being carried bridal style by Hishita to the stone table.

_Damn! He sedated her at the blind spot!_

Killua quickly looked for the video outside Hidako's bed room(and also Hidako-Illumi's bed room) and in the whole year, it was Hishita who always delivered items for Hidako, which made it very possible for her to cheat on Hishita. He was the young butler who was often exposed to her.

"Whatever, i'll just copy it and analyze it later on," Killua thought while he was downloading the videos to his usb.

One hour had passed and Tsubone was already waiting in front of the cctv room. When Killua got out of the room, the old woman whispered to him "Good luck, Master Killua." Killua then continued running to the Zoldyck's mortuary.

Zoldyck Mortuary was a lot like regular mortuary. When casualties happened involving the staffs or in the most unfortunate moment, the family member, the corpse would be put there until it was sent away or to be picked by the family of the corpse. It was guarded by Amane that time when he was there. Killua knew how low in time he was that moment, he chose to attack the back of Amane's neck to make her unconscious. Then he would take the key off of her hand and entered the mortuary.

It was the first time Killua went to the mortuary, the air conditioner was really cold and it reeked of blood and chloroform, the smell itself wanted to make Killua covered his mouth and nose with his hand. Killua then opened the list to check which box Hishita's corpse was located. Once he found it, he pulled the box to find Hishita's corpse. It was reeking in chloroform and it felt like it caused him to feel nauseous. The corpse was cold and fully naked. Killua then put on a mask and a pair of white latex glove then pulled the corpse out of the box, the body was lying naked on the floor. Killua then tried to find something that might prove that Hishita was manipulated.

Hidako suspected of Kikyou and Killua suspected Kalluto, that boy would do anything that Kikyou requested him to do. He needed to find a proof that there was something they used to manipulate Hishita, like needles. Killua remembered that his mother could manipulate using needles, just like Illumi and Milluki would manipulate using antenna. Kalluto might be involved with the drama, if he was involved, Killua would find white papers.

Killua was busy going through the butler's body. He was observing from his feet to his head, then his fingers dug into his head, he then used his nen because he thought he might pick up some needles under the corpse's skin but he found nothing. He then tried opening his mouth and with disgust he put his fingers inside the corpse's cold mouth to find nothing.

"Master Killua, please stop or i'll paralyze you!" Apparently Killua had spent the time a little too long then he should, Amane was there, standing in front of Killua with a gun in her hand. "Amane, a woman's raped and accused of adultery! And she's in a brink of divorce too now!" Killua shouted to Amane, the girl's eyes suddenly softened. The long haired female butler knew exactly what Killua was talking about.

"It's no use, i also tried to look for evidence but i find nothing in Hishita's body," Amane put down her gun.

"Have you ever tried searching in every single hole this corpse has?" Killua asked Amane, with his snarky smile.

*

_Torture Room. Zoldyck's Mansion. Kukuroo Mountain._

The cold stony room with tons of torture devices sent shiver to Hidako's whole body. The woman was shaking and she felt like she wanted to puke right away. The night when Hishita raped her came back to her mind, she felt defenseless, just like how it was when Zhang attempted to rape her when she was a child. Her head felt dizzy and she felt like everything she saw turned blurry. Her breath went rapid, she couldn't breathe. Hishita's doll face came back ot her mind, alternating with Zhang's devious smirk. She could feel pain in her vagina, how painful it was for her when he entered her vagina.

Hidako lost her balance and she fell to Canary's arms. "Lady Hidako, are you alright? If you're not okay, just let me do the searching for the box," Canary offered while helping Hidako to get out of the room.

Hidako felt so helpless, she became a burden because she was stupid enough to believe that roses were from Illumi and she was stupid enough to think that Illumi would actually do bondage play in the torture room.

"No, i want to help," Hidako insisted but the afro-haired girl gripped her arm. "Lady Hidako, it's okay, just rest, i'll accompany you to your bed room," Canary's grey eyes showed that she was really concerned with Hidako's well being.

At the end, Hidako could only wait in her bedroom while Canary was searching for a box or any possible proof inside the torture room.

Few minutes had passed and Hidako just sat there at the edge of the bed, feeling emptiness in her heart, how the memories did not go away from her head.

Canary went inside the room after an hour of searching, she came up with "i'm sorry, i found nothing, My Lady."

_Darn it! Kikyou probably had already found the box and cleaned everything up._

Suddenly, Canary got a call from the new head butler, Tsubone. Canary had to leave her post in order to help for the search and Hidako was left alone in her bedroom.

*

Few knocks at her door followed with her husband opening the door. He came home earlier than he usually would. Her eyes widened when she saw him, she got up and quickly jumped to him and hugged him.

"Illumi, i miss you so much," She showered him with kisses but his expression did not change. It was the scary cold expression when Hidako first saw him.

Hidako saw needles in his hand. She quickly backed off from him. "Illumi, what are you planning to do?" Hidako asked him, she already felt that Illumi would do something really wrong to her. His tall body towered Hidako, and his aura intimidated her, she walked back but only to be followed by him walking forward.

"Illumi, what are you trying to do to me?" Hidako was scared. She knew her husband's aura, it was not bloodlust but it was something horrifying as well, something that caused her goosebumps. She kept on walking backwards until she fell down to her bed.

Illumi's aura felt so cold, it was extremely cold, a lot colder than usual. He pinned her hands down on the bed. She could see darkness inside his black orbs. His long hair was surrounding her face. Hidako focused her eyes on her husband's eyes. She projected what had happened to her that night to Illumi, it was playing like a movie in front of his eyes. Right from the moment when she accepted to the flowers, quickly to the moment when the chloroform was in her nose and when the doll-faced Hishita raped her. It felt real but Illumi knew exactly how good Hidako was in projecting her nen.

"Please, Illumi, i don't cheat, i love you, please trust me," Hidako wept to him, Illumi's grip was really strong, she did not even attempt to escape from him. "Maybe we can stay married if i put a needle in your head," Illumi whispered to his wife. Hidako was still sobbing. But, at the time she couldn't think and she only thought about how she wanted to stay married to him, no matter what. "Illumi ... put it ... i don't care, i will do anything to be with you," Hidako's told him with her shaky tone. She then kissed his lips while he let go of his grip and put a needle in her head. She was screaming in pain when he had done that to her. He held her close and covered her mouth with his free hand. When he was done, Hidako fainted. Illumi moved to lay down beside her in fetal position, he stared at her face. She looked really exhausted compared to the woman he remembered she was, her eyes were red and sunken, her skin was dull and dry. Illumi hugged his unconscious wife while he was contemplating about the projection Hidako had showed him, he wanted to trust her but all the evidence led to the high chance of his wife fornicating with the butler. But, even if he chose to trust her, his family still would go against him. His family's his identity. If they went against Hidako, he would have to leave his family for her. Maybe, if he put her in complete submission, they would still accept her.

**Note :**

**Love really turns people dumb(or extreme, in Illumi's case). That also happens to Hidako. It's obvious that the couple loved each other but Hidako loved Illumi so much, she valued family as much(or perhaps more) than Illumi did.**

**It is also obvious that Kikyou was the one who orchestrated the whole event, and as a master manipulator who gave birth and trained a manipulator like Illumi, she had to be a good at it.**

**I will probably write the short version of Silva's and Kikyou's love story in later chapter as the epilogues and perhaps if i have more time, i'd write a new fanfiction about their love story in longer version.**

**Again, thank you for the comments. Please comment/review some more for they are the reason why i keep on writing this fic! **


	15. Till’ Death Do Us Part

**Chapter 15 : Till' Death Do Us Part **

The room was dominated with white color and it was cold. The smell of chloroform reeked inside the room.

The boy and the young woman were observing and palpating every single part of the corpse's body in the Zoldyck's Mortuary Room.

"We need to dissect the body, i found nothing," Killua sighed in stress.

"No! You can't do it! It is against the rule! Hishita's still the family staff and we can't send a dissected body back to his family!" Amane prevented Killua from doing so.

"Where can you hide a needle beside in the holes and the head?" Killua was panting. He was stressed at how futile his searches were.

Out of nowhere, Tsubone opened the door. The sight of the tall old lady horrified Killua and Amane.

"Killua, your presence is needed at the dining room in 15 minutes," Tsubone said calmly to Killua. Killua was grateful that she did not come to bust him and Amane for what they had done to the corpse.

"And i hope you will clean yourself before meeting your family" Tsubone said before leaving both of them alone.

"You should go, i'll try looking for more without dissecting it," Amane told Killua, the boy only nodded and proceeded to go back to his bedroom before meeting his family.

While Amane was there, putting her fingers once again inside the corpse's holes. Then, she remembered there were holes that they forgot to explore with their fingers. They were the ear holes and the nose's. Amane used her latex-covered pinky finger to went inside the holes. She found out that there was something protruding inside his nose. It was very small but yet weirdly protruded. She picked up a small nipper and took it forcefully. There it was, a transparent small needle, no longer than 1.5 cm. She quickly out the transparent needle inside the glass petri dish.

*

_Zoldyck's Mansion Dining Room._

Killua was surprised when he saw Hidako sitting at the dining room again. But, she was different, her eyes looked dead. She was sitting right beside Illumi. There were also other family members among them, Silva, Kikyou, Zeno, Milluki, and Kalluto.

"Before the foods are served, i'd like to talk about Illumi's and Hidako's marriage," Zeno opened the conversation. The others were only listening.

"Maybe a lot of you don't know that Lady Hidako is pregnant but until know we don't know exactly the identity of the father of the baby. We've consulted to the doctors that the paternity test could be done in the end of second month of pregnancy. So, i've come to conclusion that Lady Hidako should stay here until we get the paternity test result," Zeno suggested, he was calm but that only made Kikyou furious. She had guessed that once the men had found out that Hidako was pregnant, they turned soft. But, at that moment Kikyou knew that it was futile to go against it, she just have to come up with a better plan.

Killua was only looking at Hidako, observing with his gyo turned on. Illumi had put a needle inside her, turning her into one of his dolls. Killua was shocked when he had seen the sight. _She was his wife! How could he do it to her?!_

The dinner was really quiet. It's like everyone in the table had already known what Illumi had done to Hidako and didn't bat an eye about it. Killua was the only who's furious. _What kind of man would turn his family into a doll?!_

But, he held his anger. He knew it he said anything, it would make the others react to it and it would probably be worse for Hidako.

All of them continued eating the dinner quietly. Kikyou knew that going upfront would be stupid, Illumi did not trust her, he put her in doll-state and that meant that she had reached her first goal of causing him not to believe her anymore, with Zeno's new order, she probably needed to orchestrate another plan to get rid of her. Silva continued eating his soup while gazing at Hidako, he disagreed with Illumi turning his wife into a doll. But, he understood his son's possessiveness with his beloved, he had no problem to put needles in Killua, his brother whom he had known since that silver-haired boy was a baby, he surely knew that it was not a big deal for Illumi to put a needle to his wife thought it was definitely not a wise choice to put her in complete control. Milluki didn't think that the incident led the drama to continue this far. He was also surprised that Illumi would come to such extent in turning his wife into a doll, not just sending her back to her parent's house. Kalluto was confused with everything's going on. He was also surprised that Illumi would turn her into a doll instead of sending her away. Too much fuss. But, the fact that his brother gave so much damn about his wife proved that Hidako was indeed someone precious for him.

After the dinner was done, everyone left the table, except Killua, Hidako, Illumi and Zeno. Zeno wiped his mouth before he spoke up. "Killua, would you please excuse us for a while?" Zeno asked the silver-haired boy. "No, i disagree with brother Illumi turning Lady Hidako into a _soul-less_ doll, mother never turned father into a _soul-less_ doll" Killua slammed the table while standing up, he replied his grandfather with all of his fury. "Sit down, Killua!" Zeno shouted to him. Killua quickly sat down. Illumi could only stare to Killua. Hidako was still eating her dessert, with no expression. Zeno sighed, he didn't expect that Illumi would come into conclusion of turning Lady Hidako into a doll.

"Killua, with Illumi turning Hidako into a doll, that also meant putting down the flame for a while," Zeno replied the Zoldyck heir. "What do you mean putting down the flame?" Killua asked Zeno. "Hidako voluntarily accepted the needle, Killua," Illumi said, the words surprised Killua, why would any sane person accept to be controlled by his psychotic brother? "Which proved that she loves him and according to your brother over here, he believed 100% that she did not cheat," Zeno explained to the boy. "What does it have to do with flame then?" The young boy huffed while folding his arm. "Everything she projected about Hishita being manipulated was true then, that the one who used Hishita to rape Lady Hidako must be a manipulator too," Illumi told his brother. "There are four manipulators in the family, you, mom, Kalluto and Milluki," Killua pointed Illumi while counting the rest with his fingers. "Kikyou hates Hidako and that woman is the type of woman who would do anything in order to get what she wants," Zeno told his grandchildren, his memory traveled to when she brought the heads of the butlers with baby in her belly. "That might also include using her children to achieve her goal," Zeno took another sip of the water in front of him. "And we should lay low before we can get any proof of who did it to Hidako and that also included putting Hidako in doll-like mode right now," The silver-haired old man put the glass back on the table. "When we get the paternity result, which most probably is Illumi's child, Illumi will have to take out the needle out of her body," Zeno ordered while looking right into Illumi's eyes. "Grandfather, you have the highest order here, why don't you just do investigation to mom immediately?" Killua asked in his irritation, it was obvious that he thought that the whole laying low thing would only give more space for his mother to incite more drama. "I told you before, Kikyou is a smart woman, she will know if we rush things and do not plan things carefully," Zeno was massaging his temple again, Killua was being a ball covered in fury and no logic that day. "O ... okay," Killua then nodded. His eyes then gazed at Hidako, she was turning into an auto-pilot doll, she ate, she drank, but, she didn't talk aside from greetings, thank you, please, and sorry. He then looked at Illumi, who looked the same but less scary than he remembered how he used to be. His big black orbs were looking at his wife who was taking another sip of the water from her glass. _Brother, do you actually love Lady Hidako? _

*

After the dinner, the couple walked back to their own bedroom. Even after few weeks, Illumi did not change the interior of the room. It's been weeks since the last time they had made love. Illumi controlled his wife to follow him to the bedroom. She helped him undressing the outfit he was wearing and then she undressed herself. They were both naked. She didn't say anything to Illumi, her eyes were brown but they looked really dull, unlike the usual sparkle in her eyes. Illumi felt burden, the moment he put the needle inside her head and when she was screaming because of the pain when he inserted the needle. It felt like it suffocated him when he saw his wife turning into a doll. When the light from her brown eyes disappeared and her expression went flat and the tone of her soft voice also disappeared.

Illumi then carried her bridal style and threw her to the bed. Her expression did not change, she was just lying on the bed with her empty gaze to Illumi. Illumi then went to his wife, caressing her naked breast with his finger and kissing her lips with his. Her lips reacted in kissing him back but it was different than usual. His other hand stroked his own penis, causing it to be hard quickly. He missed making love with Hidako. Illumi then checked whether her vagina was wet or not by inserting his index and middle finger inside hers, it wasn't wet enough, he stroked her few times before it became wet and ready. When he saw her expression, it didn't change, she stayed flat, with her empty eyes gazing at his black orbs. But, he didn't stop. He thought that maybe an intercourse would make him and perhaps her feel better. Illumi went inside her and moved it, his chest was touching hers, he moved exactly the way she liked it. His body could feel her body but the unchanging expression of her, caused Illumi to go limp. He couldn't do it with a doll. He wanted more than just a doll to masturbate, he wanted his wife. He couldn't continue making love to her. Because of the auto-pilot mode, Hidako went right to the bath room after sex to clean herself, just the way she usually did it. llumi just laid down on the bed, while staring at the ceiling. He didn't even bother putting on his outfit, he only moved to the pillow and pulled the blanket to cover his body. When Hidako went inside the blanket to sleep, Illumi could only gaze at her face until he himself also fell asleep.

*

The next morning, Amane brought the glass object inside her pocket, she walked to Killua's bed room. Her hand couldn't stop fiddling the glass object inside her pocket. She was anxious, Amane did not like to be involved in the family drama being the one who defended one side of the family, causing the other side of the family to be upset. Even though she knew exactly that it was right to defend Lady Hidako but the idea of being involved made her very very anxious.

When she arrived in front of Killua's bed room, her heart beat faster. She put out the glass petri dish out of her pocket and observed it again. _Can this really help Lady Hidako? But, if it truly helps her, will the other side of family who hates her is going to hate her? _A tiny piece of transparent glass in front of her could mean a lot of things if it was going to be investigated. But, she didn't seem to have a chance to do so.

A small silver needle went under her skin inside her neck. The woman fell unconscious, her slender body fell to the carpet under her. Few meters from her, there was a young corpulent boy holding a gun that shot needles. He then took out his tablet and opened the setting of the cctv, deleting some of the files and turning it into pre-recorded video before coming to pick up the glass object from the girl's hand.

The corpulent young man smiled. He knew it was his mother all along and he never expected his mother to be so reckless for the needle she had asked him to order could be held by a butler inside a glass petri dish. But, he knew that by finding the needle that it was an opportunity for him to ask for more money from his mother or perhaps from Killua. Depending on who could give more money to him.

*

It's been few weeks since Hidako had been put into autopilot state. The men came back to work as usual and the women stayed home. That day, Illumi had just came back from a mission and he was summoned to his father's room immediately.

Silva called Illumi again to his working room, with Mike being chained into the wall. The room was as dark as usual, and there was a box opened with sofa inside. Illumi hadn't gone to that dark room for a long time. The dog was there, sitting next to his father, calmly.

"Sit," Silva ordered his eldest son to sit beside him. Illumi immediately seated on the soft couch. "Your mother would disagree with this but ... no man should turn his wife into a puppet," Silva bluntly said it to his son. Illumi did not expect such response from Silva. "You should just take the needle of off her and divorce her," Silva's blue eyes were cold and stern, they displayed how serious he was with those words.

_Divorce_. A big word that's been looming in Illumi's mind those past few weeks. He hated the word. It meant a separation between husband and wife. A separation between two family members.

"No," Illumi replied, sternly. His black big eyes didn't blink at all, Silva's breath was quicker when he heard his son's statement. "We do not keep an adulterer inside our house!" Illumi's father's pitch was high, Illumi had not heard his father's shout to him for a long time.

_Adulterer_. Illumi's memory came back to the moment when he was a short-haired teenage assassin that wore corduroy almost everyday. It were those twinkling red and pink lights and bright red-colored woods with girls wearing flashy kimono with fancy accessories on their hair. He had just become a 15 years old boy at that moment. He had just finished a mission with his father. They stopped at the red light district of Kioto. His father told him that he was going to give him his birthday present. He gave him in a form of a silver-haired _oiran_ with skin as white as milk and eyes with the color of lavender. The oiran took Illumi's virginity and taught him the art of seduction and when she touched his father's chest to thank him, he knew that his father was sleeping with the oiran. When Illumi came out from the room after sleeping with the oiran, he saw his father came out from another room with red mark on his neck. He knew exactly what that meant and he chose to be quiet about it, to be a good boy who kept his father's secret from his mother.

"Ah! Kaguya! I remember her name!" Illumi muttered after few minutes of silence. The name caused Silva to flinch. The _oiran_ touched his father like she had been very close to him for a long time. "I never tell mother that you went to that red brothel in Kioto, leaving a room with a red mark on your neck, possibly from sleeping with one of the prostitutes there," Illumi teased his father.

"Illumi, that was a long time ago, i went there for you, so you'd learn the art of seduction from the professional!" Silva explained to Illumi, his voice went higher and Ilumi realized that. His father did not want his mother to know what he had been doing after those late missions.

"You slept with Kaguya , didn't you?" Illumi scoffed at his father. Silva slapped the young man, Illumi's pale cheek became reddish and slightly swollen.

"So, you did," His black orbs were piercing into his blue eyes, for the first time, his son intimidated Silva with those doll-like dark eyes.

"Your mother is not wrong for disliking her!You've changed because of that woman!" Silva shouted to his son. But, his son did not flinch, his black huge orbs kept on staring, his father could feel Illumi's aura that kept on getting stronger and it suffocated him.

"That woman is my wife," Illumi's voice was cold, like clearly did not give any discretion to his faher's words. He simply walked out of the room, leaving his father bewildered at his son's action. He never threatened Silva before and even if it was just a simple matter, he realized that the marriage changed Illumi, to be no longer a _perfect Zoldyck_ child they all used to know.

*

The man came back to his own bedroom. His wife was there, sitting idly, looking at nothing with her dead doll eyes. The next day would be the day when she had to do paternity test. Illumi was very sure that it was his child in her belly. The sight of his wife becoming a doll disheartened him. That day, he decided that he would take the needle off of her head.

He walked closer to her, while still smelling like blood, he activated his nen and pulled the needle out of her head. Slowly, the life came back to her, her lively brown eyes came back to him. Tears came out of her eyes, she hugged him with all of her energy. "I miss you so much, all this time, i could only see and hear without being able to control my body," Hidako cried to her husband. Illumi hugged her back. His long fingers trailed her neck and her hair, causing her to shiver. He then kissed her lips. "Hidako, i want to make love with you," He said before continuing to kiss her and pushed his wife lightly to the bed. "Till death do us part," he whispered to her ear before they continued making love to each other.

_Illumi and Hidako had came back to each other again._

*

The next morning, in a very rare occasion, Hidako woke up earlier than Illumi. She turned on her phone to see a message from Joko, his father's butler.

_Mr. Taka has just deceased. When a maid came to his bedroom this morning, she found him not breathing anymore. _

Hidako couldn't believe the message she had just received. She re-read it so many times but it did not change. She felt like a punch to her chest. Taka's dead. He had treated her like milking a cow but why was it only the good memories that came to her mind_? _

She wept, waking her husband up. "Hidako, why are you crying?" Illumi asked the young woman. "Father Taka's dead," Hidako replied, while she dropped her phone to the desk. Illumi crawled to his wife's side and hugged her from the back. His hand on her head while she wept over Taka's death.

Illumi left again for a mission that day. He told his wife that he would come back the the next day.

Before getting her blood taken by the doctor, Hidako bathed. Her naked body went inside the tub. The water was warm and she was all alone in the bathroom with Canary guarding in front of the bathroom.

When she was lying down with water still running the tap, tears ran out of her eyes. The death of Taka gave a huge blow towards Hidako's mental state. It was a strong emotion for her. The images of him becoming a father to her, the moment when he trained her for her first reading, when he introduced her to his friends when she had done her first reading, the moment when he read the fairytale books to her when she was a child, the moment when he protected her when the kingdom was burning. Taka was harsh but he was the best father Hidako could have.

Canary continously tapping her shoe on the carpet. She also anxiously kept on checking the time from her watch. Lady Hidako had been in the bathroom for too long and there was no voice but the same running water.

She knew that she had to do something, the young girl kicked the door with all her power, when the door was opened, she could see a fainted naked young woman in the tub with the running water. When she walked forward, the contact between her shoes and the floor caused water to splash. "Oh my God!" Canary gasped when she saw the water, it was no longer clear transparent water, it was red, blood red.

**Author's Note :**

**P.S. : Oiran is a term to describe a prostitute in Japan that also entertains beside being sleeping with the client and according to Mika Ninagawa's Sakuran, oiran also means as the best _prostitute_ in the brothel. **

**It was really awkward for me to write down that doll sex scene. As the tech-y one in the family, Milluki's often requested by the family members to acquire items so when Kikyou asked him to find a transparent needle, he immediately gave it to her as long she paid him good amount of jenny. After the whole rape case happened, Milluki knew exactly that it was his mother's doing but he kept quiet about it because he had no proof about it.**

**About Illumi's feelings, he loved her. Especially after Hidako voluntarily let herself having a needle in her head.**

**I will possibly post my writing about Illumi's first sexual experience with Kaguya. What do you guys think about it though? Should i write it down in the same fic or in a new fic? **

**Also about Silva x Kikyou fic, i think i'm going to write it as a new fic. Once i'm done with it, i'll post it. **

**Thank you for the comments/reviews. Please write(or type?) some more for they are the reason why i kept on writing. **


	16. Independency

**Chapter 16 : Independency **

The woman was rushed to the hospital inside the black car with iv-line in her hand. Her hair was still wet and she was only wearing a towel robe, The mansion didn't have ob/gyn and with the ongoing bleeding and Hidako being fainted with low blood pressure, the condition was considered as emergency by the house doctor.

Canary was busy calling Illumi. But, he did not pick up the call. She could only message the Zoldyck's eldest and hoping that he'd read it.

In the car, there were only Canary, the driver, Hidako, and the doctor. The men of the Zoldycks had gone out and it's impossible to ask Kikyou to accompany inside the car. She'd rather Hidako be dead instead of alive.

They managed to go out of the mansion by the consent of Zeno Zoldyck's.

*

In another city in Padokia, Illumi was with Hisoka, they were going in a mission to take down a drug lord. Their target was inside the old ruined building where they were producing so many types of drugs. It wasn't a strong target but he had many bodyguards. Few of them were nen users.

They were half way finishing those bodyguards of his, until Illumi's phone kept on vibrating non-stop. They've killed the bodyguards at the first floor already, they only needed to go to two basement floors but Illumi chose check on his phone. There were hundred of Canary's missed calls and a message from her.

"Lady Hidako is unconscious and bleeding a lot, the doctor said that it's emergency, that she might die, she is now rushed to the hospital"

When the man read that, he felt strong emotion rushing through his vein. Hisoka could feel the increasing intensity of Illumi's aura. "What happened?" The clown asked his friend.

"Let's just go straight into killing the target," Illumi replied, with mixed emotion is his heart.

Illumi went in rage mode, he threw all needles to the bodyguard and those who were not fully submitted was quickly killed by him and Hisoka. In few minutes, Hisoka and Illumi went inside the lowest basement floor. There they found the drug lord, a young man, around 30 years old with skinny body and peroxide blonde hair, he wore a black t-shirt with baphomet picture on it. He was wearing a face mask but Hisoka and Illumi knew that it was definitely him.

Illumi threw needles to everyone in the room. "Ilumi, isn't that waste of energy?" Hisoka was confused at his friend's move. Illumi paid no attention to Hisoka and quickly threw a big needle into the druglord's head, it pierced through his skull and he quickly fainted to the floor. Illumi then ripped the druglord's beating heart off and threw it to the floor.

"Illumi, what has come unto you?" Hisoka was bewildered at Illumi's action. "My wife's in emergency, i need to go now," Illumi quickly left the building.

"_Wow_, he has changed, he really loves his wife," Hisoka muttering by himself.

*

During his trip back to the Kukuroo. Illumi felt anxiety like never before. He called Canary immediately. When the dial tone rang, miscarriage was the first thing in his mind and he believed that it was his child that was inside Hidako's womb.

"Illumi-sama, we are at the hospital right now," Canary answered Illumi's phone call.

"I want to talk to the doctor"

"Hello, Mr. Zoldyck, this is doctor Burnuk, i'd like to inform you that Mrs. Hidako right now will need to stay at the hospital because she's still bleeding and still unconscious, there is possibility of miscarriage and the ob/gyn is still checking on her now to see whether the fetus is viable or not" Zoldyck's private doctor answered the call. The word miscarriage was a huge blow to Illumi. He believed her words, he believed it was his child. He had not cried for a long time and that moment, tears came out of his eyes. It just wet his cheek for a while but it already defined how disheartened he was by his child's death. Illumi was always good in hiding his emotion. There was a moment for silence between the doctor and Illumi.

"Doctor, would you please do a forensic checkup on Hidako's and the fetus?" Until Illumi spoke up with a question that surprised the doctor.

*

Few hours later, Hidako was inside a room in a hospital wearing light blue yukata, it was a VIP room and it's dominated in white and grey color, she was on the hospital bed and there was one no one but Canary,the nurse, the doctor in the room

"Mrs. Zoldyck, I'm really sorry to inform you that the fetus cannot survive," The doctor at the hospital informed Hidako who was still leaning on the bed, looking pale with iv-line in her hand. Hidako bursted into tears immediately. The young butler gave her the tissue she needed.

"Mrs. Hidako, you were completely knocked out and almost died when we were in the mansion," Canary whispered to her ear.

"We've stabilized your condition now but your fetus was already not viable, so, with your signature or your husband's signature we can continue to put out the fetus out of your body," The doctor explained about the next procedure she would have to experience.

Hidako didn't answer, she's still weeping. It's like losing a part of her soul. The body of the fetus was inside of her but it pained her so much knowing that it's dead.

The doctor and the nurse left the room, leaving Hidako and Canary alone. The young butler couldn't help much, she could only give tissue and water to the sobbing lady.

An hour later, the door was opened and Hidako saw her husband came inside the room. He could see that his wife's face was swollen and her eyes were red and swollen as well. Illumi walked closer to her and she immediately hugged her husband. She didn't care if he smelled like blood and dust, and how dirty his clothing was, tears wet his clothing, the lady wept for her child's death.

"Canary, would you mind to leave?" Illumi told the young butler to leave him and his wife. Hidako did not say a thing, she wailed. Illumi did not budge, he just knew that if someone's sad all he could do was hugging her and stroking her hair. Hidako did not care whether Illumi's expresion, she was drowning in her sorrow, it was painful, really painful for her. First, it was Taka's death then it was her child's death. "It was my baby, our baby, yesterday, it was still here in my belly ... it was still here," She was murmuring her sadness.

Illumi was sad but crying in front of someone was not something he could do, he was accustomed to hide his emotion in front of anyone, even in front of his family. So, he just hid his sadness and waited until Hidako was too exhausted to cry and fell asleep inside the hospital room.

*

The next day, the doctor took out the dead fetus outside her body and Hidako was sent back to the mansion. It was the first time seeing Hidako being worse than an autopilot version of herself. The sparkle on her eyes disappeared and she did not talk much except for the necessaries. She couldn't eat, her frail body got even thinner, and she only drank liquid form of everything. In the middle of the night, she would wake up and wept, she did it quietly, but, Illumi realized that, sometimes he would wake up and tried to calm her by hugging her and stroking her silky dark hair.

"Illumi, if i pay you to kill me, would you kill me? I want to feel nothing, i don't want to feel this anymore," Hidako's whimpered in her soft voice. Illumi couldn't bear looking at his wife, she looked like she was going to die, she was so thin and it's like a part of her soul had just left her, he closed his eyes and hugged her. "Hidako, it's forbidden to kill family member," He said in very low volume. "You can divorce me then you can kill me, i'm a useless woman, i had made us lost our child," Hidako's whimpering caused Him to hug her even tighter. "No, Hidako, we're husband and wife until death comes," His black eyes were staring at her dull brown eyes with all his heart. She didn't say a thing, she only looked at his eyes for a while before closing hers and suddenly she drifted off to sleep. She was too exhausted with her emotion, it drained her energy so much.

*

In one of those days after her miscarriage, Illumi was summoned to Zeno's working room. The old man was sitting at the sofa while reading some Kakin literature and having a Kakin-based song playing from his stereo. Illumi sat down at the sofa in in front of his grandfather. He did not take missions for a whole to accompany Hidako.

"How's Hidako? She doesn't come to the dining room anymore," Zeno looked worried, he closed the book and put it at the table in front of him while staring at his grandchild. "She's still very depressed," Illumi replied. "The doctor gave her some medication for her emotion and pills to increase her appetite so she would at least eat something," Illumi huffed, he was exasperated as well. "She's in bad condition indeed, do you think there is someone behind the miscarriage?" Zeno's question somehow felt a lot lighter than talking about Hidako's depression. Illumi nodded at his grandfather's question. "We'll have the forensics result in one week," Illumi replied, Zeno was not disappointed at his eldest grandson. "How do Silva and Kikyou think of the miscarriage?" The question reminded Illumi of that breakfast when there was no Zeno and Hidako around.

_"You should just divorce her, a adulterous woman who cannot bear child should never be a wife," Silva was cutting the apple when he said the words in a very calm manner. Kikyou who was eating the grape nodded in excitement when her husband said that. "It was probably karma for her for being an adulterous woman," Kikyou added. "Man, a wife who can't bear a child ... why do you even keep a woman like that as a wife?" Milluki's comment made Illumi wanted to straight up take the knife and threw it to the fat boy. Kalluto and Killua chose to stay quiet. Illumi held his anger really well that morning, he finished his breakfast quickly then he stood up and left the room. He didn't say a thing and left the dining room. He was completely pissed off at his parents remarks about Hidako but he knew that talking back to his parents would only add more problem, no one needed to know that Hidako's blood was being analyzed by the forensics team. He just needed to see the result so it could be a proof to take down whoever had done such cruel things to Hidako._

"Divorce," Illumi replied his grandfather. "They still requested me to divorce Hidako," Illumi's black orbs were staring at his grandfather's eyes. "Let's just wait for the forensics result," Zeno commented nothing about what his son and his daughter in law said about Illumi's marriage.

*

That night was the night when the doctor allowed the couple to resume their sexual activity. With Hidako being depressed, Illumi's the one who initiated the contact. When he was sitting on the bed, he kissed her neck and he groped her breast from the back. He played with her nipple but she didn't react. She then grabbed Illumi's hand and moved it to her crotch, Illumi then stroked her clitoris, only a very soft whimper came out of her lips. She was wet enough for penetration. Without Illumi asking, Hidako took off her robe and her panties, exposing her frail body to her husband. "You can fuck me," She said with dullness in her eyes. Hidako then lied down on the bed while Illumi spread her legs open. His penis went inside of hers, moving like he usually was. She kept on staring at her husband's eyes with emptiness, she did not feel anything. Her unchanging expression was like when she was being a doll but it was worse. "Illumi, i don't feel anything," She whimpered, but her body was limp, she didn't even try to move. Illumi suddenly lost his arousal, he couldn't force himself on a zombie. Tears came out of her eyes while she was hysterically screaming "i can't!" "I can't do this" while trying to push him away. Illumi let her go and walked right to the bathroom. He couldn't stand _this_ Hidako, leaving the woman alone to cry on her own until she fell asleep.

*

It was early in the morning. The Zoldyck family was at the dining room as usual with breakfast in front of them. It was Kakin style breakfast that was served that day, dimsum and porridge were served on the table with Chrysanthemum tea in the pot.

There were Silva, Zeno, Illumi, Kalluto, Kikyou, Milluki and Killua in the dining table. Hidako couldn't be present as usual. They were eating like usual until Illumi said "Hidako and i are leaving the mansion," He thought that going to Hidako's place would make his wife came back to her normal state.

All eyes were on the man with huge dark orbs. The people of Zoldyck household were amazed by the out-of-nowhere statement. Silva put his chopsticks down when he heard his eldest son said that.

"Where are you going to with that woman?" There's irritation in Silva's voice when he asked the question to Illumi. "We're going to go to Hidako's house," Illumi replied while taking another siew mai from the plate. Silva remembered that Hidako had just lost her father, he thought that probably they were only visiting.

"When are you going to come back?" Silva asked his son before wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"We'll be there for good," Illumi words were roundly. But, the words surprised everyone in the table. Illumi knew exactly that whoever had orchestrated the rape incident and perhaps the miscarriage gotta be one of the Zoldycks who despised her so much. They would never be able to survive as a couple if that person kept on orchestrating incidents.

"Brother, what do you mean by _for good_?" Kalluto was amused by his brother's decision and even though the question was rhetorical, Kalluto still did not believe that his brother would do it.

"For good ... forever leaving the mountain ... as a my own family in the new household," Illumi's voice was crisp. "You can't do that!" Silva slammed the table in shock. Kikyou was also shocked at his statement. She was going to cry, she couldn't believe what the eldest son had said. Zeno's face expression changed. He was no longer eating the porridge in front of him.

"You're the eldest here! A woman should follow her husband and live in her husband's house, it's not the other way around!" Silva was furious with his son.

"I can still do the missions as usual, the profit will also be shared as usual," Illumi calmly replied his father. "See! It's always that woman! That fucking whore had a bad influence to our son!" Kikyou was shouting hysterically. "Mother, this is my own choice, Hidako had no say about this," Illumi controlled his emotion very well.

"He's an adult man, why don't you just let him do whatever he wants?" Killua, out of nowhere joined the conversation. He was surprised that the perfect son Illumi actually went against his parents after a whole life of being an obedient child.

"You let me go with my friends to travel and have an adventure. Why don't you do the same with brother Illumi?" Killua was really calm when he said that, almost playful. "Beside, brother Illumi promised that the profit from him being a Zoldyck assassin will be shared fair and square, that's pretty fair to begin with," Killua's words surprised them, it wasn't the words themselves but because he actually spoke up in the middle of the adults conversing.

"I agree with Killua but i don't fully agree with Illumi in staying forever in Taka's place, at least until one of the young ones can take his place in the work chain," Zeno spoke up to the others. He was always the decision maker of the family.

"I'll think about it, now i have to go because i have a mission to do" Illumi replied them before walking out of the dining room.

*

The night was dark and it was filled with rain and thunder. Kikyou was ready to sleep in her shared bedroom with Silva. She had already worn her lavender silk long sleeping gown and she had done putting on night cream all over her skin.

Suddenly, there were a knock followed with someone opening the door. Her husband appeared in front of her, wearing his working outfit, the kimono top and pants. He smelled like blood and gunpowder, insinuating that he had just came back from a mission.

"I thought that you'd be in a mission," Kikyou commented while walking to her husband and pecked his lips with a kiss. Her husband didn't say anything, he just followed Kikyou's steps.

When she stopped walking, Silva hugged her from the back. Kikyou was blushing when he had done that, they had not embraced for a long time. When Kikyou turned her head back, she felt jolt of pain from her back. The man had just stabbed a small knife to her stomach.

The thunder rumbled, the man behind Kikyou walked back. There was horror in Kikyou's eyes because of the sight in front of her. She couldn't move, her body's paralyzed. During the thunderous rainy night, the man transformed to a bloodlust-filled frail young woman wearing a black silk kimono, with long black hair that covered half of her face, her eyes were red and swollen and there was tears flowing out of her eyes.

**Author's Note :**

**Hidako is broken due to the miscarriage. Illumi completely believed that the baby was his child as well. He's also sad, since he's the man who valued family above all, especially when it comes to his child.**

**Thank you for the reviews/comments, please review/comments some more for they are the reason why i keep on continuing this fiction!**


	17. Price Of Freedom

**Chapter 17 : Price Of Freedom**

_Earlier that day. _

It was in the middle of the afternoon. Hidako was inside her bedroom and the curtain was closed. She was there, lying on the bed with a book about grieving on top of her bed. Suddenly, her phone rang, signaling that there's a message coming into hers.

Hidako sat up and took her mobile phone from the desk beside her bed and read the e-mail she had just received. Her eyes widened in shock when she read the e-mail. It was an e-mail from doctor Burnuk, a forwarded report from the forensic department along with the analysis. In the analysis Burnuk wrote down that Her blood and her fetus blood were tested positive for Inssumdurum poisoning, that the miscarriage was probably caused by the poisoning. Hidako was shaking, she hazily remembered what Inssumdurum was, it was a rare blue flower with weird shape which could be made into a deadly poison, Taka planted it back then when she was still a child and laced a very minimum amount of it on the black ball that she had to put in her mouth every time she made mistakes. It was tasteless, she could only feel the iron taste of the black ball on her mouth. But, after two days of having that black ball in her mouth, little Hidako was vomiting profusely. Taka then changed the strategy to dilute the doses to be extremely minimum, for the sake of training the girl so she could handle poison. Hidako managed to pass Taka's test of becoming immune to average dose of Inssumdurum. But, the fetus wasn't.

Hidako's fingers were shaking when she was pressing the call button to call dr. Burnuk. "Hello, doctor," Hidako's voice was quivering. "Oh hello! Mrs. Zoldyck! Is there anything i can help?" The doctor replied her. "I've received the e-mail from you. Could you please explain to me about the result?" She gulped down her emotion. "Oh sure, your lab result showed a positive mark for Inssumdurum poisoning in your blood, you might have consumed something with Inssumdurum inside. It is possible that your bleeding was caused by Inssumdurum. It's a strong poison, it's already miracle that Mrs. Hidako could be saved after consuming the poison," The doctor explained. "Okay, i understand. Thank you doctor Burnuk," Hidako then closed the phone. Her despair turned immediately into anger after the confirmation she got from the doctor.

She knew exactly when the last time she saw the Inssumdurum flower, the Zoldyck's garden. _Who else could pick such rare flower from Zoldyck garden aside from the Mrs. Zoldyck herself? _

*

Twenty three years old. She got married at the age of twenty three. A very young age.

_"You should be proud to get married at the age of twenty three, if you're older than twenty five, you'll be a lot less valuable as a woman." _

_"You should be lucky that a man wants to marry you, you're not that attractive, not a lot of men like you."_

_"Don't be a stubborn girl, Hidako, just marry him! What are you waiting for? He's young, handsome, and he came from a rich family. Do you want to get married with a man twice your age?" _

Taka's words echoed in her head. What a stupid girl she was for believing that dead man's words. The forensics report was the climax of all of her frustration. She regretted marrying into the family. She should've ran away from Taka and the Zoldycks. _But, she did not_. She was a scared dependent little girl, she always was.

She loved Illumi but with everything that happened to her, the fact that her husband at some points did not believe that she was raped and the fact that her mother-in-law wanted to kill her for so many times, she wanted to escape. The family was a death trap. Sooner or later, she would get killed by a Zoldyck.

Hidako knew that she had to stop being a little girl. The Zoldycks were worse than a jungle. She had to kill first or else she's going to be killed.

That night, the pale girl put on a silk black kimono that felt really soft on her skin, she put it because she still mourned over her death child. She then put two small knives inside her obi, one was laced with paralyzing poison and the other one was a very sharp knife to stab Kikyou's heart with.

*

The night was dark and it was filled with rain and thunder. Kikyou was already ready to sleep in her shared bedroom with Silva. She had already worn her lavender silk long sleeping gown and she had done putting on moisturizer all over her skin.

Suddenly, there was a knock followed with someone opening the door. Her husband appeared in front of her, wearing his working outfit, the kimono top and pants. He smelled like blood and gunpowder, insinuating that he had just came back from a mission.

"I thought that you'd be in a mission," Kikyou commented while walking to her husband and pecked his lips with a kiss. Her husband didn't say anything, he just followed Kikyou's steps.

When she stopped walking, Silva hugged her from the back. Kikyou was blushing when he had done that, they had not embraced for a long time. When Kikyou turned her head back, she felt jolt of pain from her back. The man had just stabbed a small knife to her stomach. Blood was coming out of her stomach. Kikyou could feel the pain and the cold metal inside her flesh. But, what's worse was when suddenly she lost control of her extremities, her butt hit the floor, her skin could feel the coldness of the marble floor.

The thunder rumbled, the man behind Kikyou walked back. There was horror in Kikyou's eyes because of the sight in front of her. She couldn't move, her body's paralyzed. The man transformed to a young woman with tears rolling out of her eyes and bloodlust radiating from her body. "You killed my baby ... you fucking killed your own grandchild ... you don't deserve to live ...," The woman with silk black kimono stuttered when the words came out of her pale lips. She put out another knife from her obi and walked towards the paralyzed older woman. "You have no proof! Your miscarriage was accident! I have nothing to do with it!" Kikyou was yelling at her, as the thunder cried out from the black raining sky, Hidako's bloodlust increased. It was a horror right in front of Kikyou's eyes, the older woman trembled at the sight of the pale skinned with murderous intent in her eyes. "My face will be the last face you see before your death," Hidako whispered to Kikyou with a knife in her hand, ready to stab her mother in law right in her heart. But, she was stopped by her husband's needle that caused her to fall unconscious and dropping the knife to the floor. The door was opened and there was him, the beloved son of Kikyou Zoldyck, standing there with needles in between his fingers.

"ILLUMI, KILL HER!YOU MARRIED A CRAZY WOMAN!" Kikyou was hysterically screaming at Illumi, even though her body was paralyzed. Illumi slowly walked to his wife's body and carried her. "ILLUMI! LISTEN TO ME! KILL THAT LUNATIC!" Kikyou kept on yelling but her son did not listen to her. Illumi bent down and whispered to Kikyou "Mother, don't you ever disturb my family again, this is my very last warning to you." Kikyou felt like thunder rummaged all over her body, the pain in her heart felt hundred times more painful than the knife in her flesh. "I AM YOUR FAMILY! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR MOTHER?I GAVE BIRTH TO YOU AND RAISED YOU NOT THAT WENCH!" Kikyou was screaming hysterically, her voice was heard throughout the hall. "She's more of a mother than you had ever been," Illumi didn't bother, he just continued with Hidako in his arm, walking towards the exit, leaving his mother hysterically in her bedroom alone.

*

"You will never be the perfect assassin like me or your father," the words resonate into Illumi's mind for forever. Kikyou had never praised him, not even once, she told him that there was always something wrong with his job, whether it wasn't clean enough, he didn't kill off all witnesses, it wasn't fast enough and so many list of complaints.

Illumi was only a 9 years old child back then. He performed his first mission without any help of the adults. That mission was about murdering a son of a dead rich man, the brothers of the rich man wanted the son's portion so they wanted him to be dead. Illumi managed to murder the man. It was a very strong man with bunch of strong bodyguard. He fulfilled his mission but it almost took his own life.

The child came back to the mountain with bruises and cuts all over his body, it was a lot for a boy that young to take. He thought that when he came back to the mountain, he would come back to the safety and would have some time to recover.

When he arrived at the mansion, Kikyou was standing with her umbrella, wearing a visor and a dark blue colored kimono. "You stupid child! What can you do beside bringing bad reputation to the family?!?" Kikyou hit Illumi's back with her umbrella. The boy was screaming in pain and he fell to the ground. Illumi had no idea what he had done wrong. She then pressed his back using the geta she had on her foot. "Mother, please stop! Please! That hurts!" The child pleaded for his mother to stop.

"Tsubone! I want you to prepare the torture room! Send the boy to the torture room!" Kikyou yelled at the female butler. "But, Mrs. Kikyou, isn't it better if ...," Tsubone felt that it was wrong to put a wounded child in a torture room, even if it's Illumi. "I am the lady of the house here! I don't want to hear anymore words, just do what i say!" Kikyou was screaming at the butler, she then walked to the torture room, along with another butlers handling the boy and then cuffed his hands so he couldn't escape. Milluki was also brought to the torture room, Kikyou ordered him to look at his brother being punished, the price of being a bad boy. A boy who did not kill all the witnesses, even though there was no issue from the client at all. A very small mistake he had to pay because his mother's mood was really bad that day.

Kikyou gagged Ilumi's mouth with a cloth before whipping him with a black horsewhip. The boy wanted to scream but he couldn't, the cloth prevented voice coming out from his mouth. She then took out needles from her obi, she inserted a small portion of the needles into his skin, and when she activated her nen, Illumi could feel excruciating pain radiating from the needles. He whimpered, cried, he wanted to plead for his mother to stop but he couldn't. The boy fainted at the torture room for the first time and last time. He promised himself that he would be the perfect assassin.

It happened once more. Silva knew what Kikyou had done to Illumi after the mission. Illumi also knew that his father knew about her torturing Illumi in the room. But, he ignored the whole thing.

At the age of 15, Illumi became a top billing assassin. Zeno accepted him as his grandchild and as a great Zoldyck assassin. Silva praised Illumi, he saw him as a great assassin as well. But, Kikyou only scoffed him "Is that all you want to tell me? Just because you become a top-billing assassin in the assassin business doesn't make you a good assassin. ...You're never a good assassin, Illumi.."

_He was never enough. _

*

The night was dark, the rain continued and it was filled with thunder and lightning. The husband and wife were located inside their bedroom.

After saving his mother from the rage of his wife, Illumi contemplated about his decision about leaving the mansion. He sat still at the edge of the bed while looking at the window. He kept on biting his nails without him realizing it.

His memory drifted off to his childhood with Kikyou, he did not remember anything sweet from it. He had experienced all the experiments his parents had tried on him and all the lack of appreciation from his mother. Illumi could feel the tinge of pain the day when his mother brutally tortured him with her nen, it was excruciatingly painful.

He understood exactly why Hidako wanted to murder his mother or how Killua was serious about asking Nanika to kill his mother. Kikyou was a crazy woman. Illumi was so used to be treated with such abuse by Kikyou but he couldn't stand it if Kikyou laid a hand on his child and she did it. She murdered her own grandchild and she broke the mother of his child. _Was there any aspect of his life that his mother wouldn't try to control? _

The moment when the e-mail came into his mail box, Illumi didn't expect that the blood would be tested positive for Inssumdurum flower. But, it was positive and no one else could have access to freely use the flower except his mother. It was also positive that the fetus was his child. Illumi also wanted to kill or at least hurt Kikyou so she'd learn. But, he knew that it was not wise and he'd be hated by his father and definitely Kalluto, they would find a way to avenge Kikyou.

When he heard his mother frantically yelling about miscarriage, he knew that Hidako was there. The closer he walked, the more he sensed Hidako's aura and it wasn't a regular aura, it was bloodlust, much bigger than the one he felt during Heaven's Arena. The one that would send shiver to his spine. With that kind of bloodlust, his wife would definitely kill his mother and he had to prevent her from doing that.

He was fed up with his mother. But,there's something about the house that made him always to come back. Was it the fact that every Zoldyck assassin lived there? Was it the fact that no Zoldyck assassin ever lived outside Kukuroo? Was it because Kukuroo mountain very safe for them? Was it because he's just used to live there and he never tried living outside Kukuroo? Was it because he's scared of the other family members? The latter one, he had to admit it. It was fear of his parents' anger, and it was fear of going against the tradition. But, with his wife losing their child due to miscarriage, he knew that they needed to be in more comfortable environment. Somewhere definitely far from the perpetrator of the rape incident. He did not want such thing to happen again. That's why he chose to get out of the house.

"Illumi ...," a soft tone of his wife's voice disturbed him from his contemplation. He turned his head to see the woman slowly sat up, she wore the black silk kimono, the color of grief. "Why did you stop me?You know she's the one who killed our child!" There's anger inside her eyes, Hidako was furious, Illumi walked to her side and sat at the edge of the bed facing her. He touched her face with his finger then put her hair behind her ear. "Killing mother will only create more problems," He said to her. "Our baby was dead because of her!" She was yelling at her husband. "Hidako, you don't want to mess with my parents," His voice was stern and his pitch went up. "But, she killed our child ... she killed our baby," Hidako started quivering, tears came out of her eyes. Illumi hugged his wife while saying "Killing mother doesn't bring back our child, it will only add more trouble, Hidako." "I want to get out from this place!i can't stand being in this place anymore!" She was hysterically yelling and sobbing. "We're leaving this place tomorrow," Illumi's words stopped the hysterical yelling from his wife, Hidako gazed at Illumi's eyes with confusion. "Are you serious?" She was so stunned, the words had made Hidako forgotten about Illumi's "sin" for not believing her back then. The man replied her "Yes, we're leaving Kukuroo Mountain for good."

*

The air during the breakfast at the Zoldyck Mansion dining room was tense. Silva sat there, waiting on his seat with fury in his face. The silver haired man had just came home from mission and he was greeted with his wife screaming and yelling and cursing her son and her daughter-in-law(mosty, her daughter-in-law) while not being able to move. Kikyou was on the bed with a doctor observing her with iv line on her arm and her trunk being bandaged.

"SHE FUCKING TRIED TO KILL ME! AND ILLUMI DEFENDED THAT WHORE!" She was hysterically yelling and crying to the point that the volume could deafen everyone who heard her words. "That insolent whore accused me of causing her miscarriage and _our_ son believed her lies! It's our Illumi! How come Illumi chose that wench over me? I gave birth to him, i nurtured him, i took care of him until he became this big and suddenly that woman came into our life and now she's going to take my _dear_ Illumi?" Her lips quivered, tears coming out from her eyes, she couldn't stop crying.

Silva could feel the throbbing veins in his neck, he felt like his blood pressure just went up immediately when he had heard that. Illumi chose a _fucking_ woman over his own mother. _What kind of insanity is this?_

Silva didn't sleep after he got back from the mission, he rushed to the dining room immediately after he had heard his wife's words.

Milluki walked inside the dining room. He quickly took the bacon, eggs, cheese and bread and put them on the plate. Kalluto then went inside the dining room and proceeded to eat his omelette, Killua also went inside the dining room and ate his milk and chocorobo cereal. It was silent, nobody talked, they were just eating like usual. Silva didn't feel any hunger at all, he was too emotional. His fingers were tapping on the table continuously. He waited for 10 minutes but he couldn't sense Illumi's or Hidako's presence. "Where is Illumi?" Silva sounded really angry, his other sons realized that, all of them suddenly felt horrified. Silva rarely got angry towards his children but every time he got angry, it would be something that's unforgettable for them. None of them spoke up. "WHERE IS ILLUMI?" Silva yelled and slammed the table, all of them were shocked and terrified at the sight of their father being furious. Silva knew exactly that Illumi didn't have mission that day, he wouldn't leave the mansion that day. The kids didn't even have the guts to move, they froze. Milluki didn't even chew his food, he immediately gulped it. Killua's mouth was agape with milk on his chin. Kalluto's mouth was fully shut and his pink eyes couldn't even leave his father's side. All the maids who were walking around the dining room also froze, none of them did not dare to move from her position except for one person.

"Silva-sama ... i think i saw Illumi-sama outside the mansion with Lady Hidako ...," One of the female maids with green hair and petite stature walked forward to the silver-haired man was trembling hard but she answered his question. He remembered what Illumi had requested in the previous day. _That bastard son really is leaving the mansion with that lunatic whore. _

Silva stood up and threw his napkin away to the maid. He was incredibly furious, he quickly walked out of the mansion. There was his son and his wife. Both of them were wearing black, Illumi with all black suit and Hidako's head was covered with a black hat and she wearing a long-sleeved body-hugging black dress that fell on her calves and a pair of black and white pointed kitten heels. There was Illumi's black limousine in front of them.

"YOU FUCKING UNGRATEFUL BASTARDS!" Silva's shouting made both of them turned their heads. Silva threw the explosive orb in smaller scale to them. Fortunately, Illumi managed to pull Kikyou with him and jumped to dodge it. It managed to destroy the car and the small fountain in front of the mansion.

The couple fell on the ground, their outfits had dirts on them and Hidako's stocking was torn. "Father, why are you trying to kill me and my wife?" Illumi slowly stood up and walked forward to his father, his black orbs pierced right through his father's eyes. The word "my wife" made Silva even angrier to the young man.

"That lunatic over there tried to murder your mother and you still chose her over your mother who had gave birth to you and raised you?!" Silva was half-yelling to his son, . "Guess mother never tells you about what she had done to Hidako and our child," Illumi's expression didn't change, his black orbs kept on gazing at his father's eyes. Our child. The words irritated Silva, how come Illumi believed that female adulterer's child was his. "Our child? What have come into your mind, Illumi? Our child? Since when do you believe that she was pregnant with your child?" Silva scoffed his son. "The blood result showed that she was pregnant with my child and she had miscarriage because of Inssumdurum poisoning," Illumi's non-changing expression and his piercing black eyes put more anger into Silva. "So, you're accusing your mother for her Inssumdurum poisoning? You think that it's alright for her trying to murder your mother just because she lost her baby?" Silva's finger was pointing on Hidako. The woman just stood there, with her small brown eyes staring at Silva. Her unchanging expression also irritated the man even more. "You can have another child or another wife but you cannot have another mother!" Silva was so adamant in defending Kikyou. He knew that it was likely impossible for someone aside from Kikyou who was able to take the flower but he did not want to believe it. He believed that his wife wouldn't do something that devious. "Father, i decided that i and Hidako will leave the house and whatever you say is not going to change my decision," Illumi spoke up with her piercing eyes and her calm demeanor. "Then i don't have to say anything," Silva quickly formed an explosive ball and threw it to Illumi. He hoped that his son would be fainted and he would be able to capture him and torture him in the torture room to the point that he would divorce Hidako. The orb almost hit Illumi, the orb exploded at the end, Illumi managed to do dodge it but his suit's torn and left a wound on his arm. Then Silva attacked him with another orb, Illumi thought that he dodged that one but he did not, it torn more of his outfit, wounded his skin and then exploded, causing the man's body to hit the wall and then causing him to fall on the ground. _It always worked, violence always worked in turning him into an obedient son. _

"Whatever you do is not going to change my mind," Illumi could feel the pain from the wound and bruises but it did not stop him for trying to stand up. He felt scorching pain from his right leg, but he tried to support his body using his left leg and his hands. He then threw needles to his father's side. But, Silva dodged. "How could you?" Silva eyes widened in shock. He couldn't believe that his eldest son would leave the family for a woman. _Was it her pretty face? Was it her sweet mouth? Was it the way she made him felt in bed? Was it her unique nen? What kind of woman that could make an obedient son to leave his family?_

Silva's hands formed another orbs. Orbs big enough to damage Illumi, to injure his son so he couldn't leave at all. "Please stop!" Hidako's voice stopped Silva from throwing the orbs to Illumi. "I'm leaving and i will divorce Illumi," Hidako's small brown eyes pierced right to Silva's eyes. She was serious. She wasn't joking. Her statement caused Illumi's eyes to widen in surprise.

The girl walked closer to Silva and grabbed his arm. "I'll make sure that Illumi is going to hate you for the rest of his life for you are the cause of him losing the love of his life," She whispered to Silva's ear. Silva could feel her blood burnt, he quickly choked Hidako's neck and put her up, the girl was mid air, her shoes no longer touched the ground. "Then you better be dead as well," Silva's hands were tightened, the girl's hands were on his big hands while she was gasping for air but they did not work. Hidako tried to inflict any kind of pain she had experienced before on him but the man did not flinch at all. Suddenly, the air changed, Silva could feel the horrifying air of his son's bloodlust. A long needle was penetrating his arm that choked Hidako. The pain caused him to let go of her body, the girl fell on the ground, gasping for more air. Illumi stood up with his legs bent and he had needles in between his fingers. "Father, if you kill _my_ _wife_, i'll kill you by myself, i don't care if i go against the rule," Illumi was ready to throw the needles. His long hair covered half of his face, Silva could only focus on his son's deathly stare from his big round eye. A bloodlust that could only be seen if someone harmed the one he loved the most.

_He loved her._ At that point, Illumi would fight until death parted them. He would fight to his own death if necessary. _It's futile_. Silva knew that he'd literally lose his son if he continued fighting him.

Silva took out the needle from his arm and threw it away. He didn't even use nen anymore. "Do whatever you want," Silva closed his eyes and turned around. Hidako who was still coughing on the ground was surprised, her eyes widened, she couldn't believe that Silva would give up on his son. Illumi no longer exuded bloodlust, his body relaxed, though he was still semi-standing.

"Just remember that you are still a Zoldyck by blood," Silva said before he walked back inside the house.

*

The couple were walking on the woods with Illumi's arm slinging to Hidako's shoulder, helping him to walk. The rustling sound of the leaves and woods and the chirping sound of the birds accompanied their walk to the gate.

"I'm sorry for saying the _divorce_ word," Hidako said to her husband. Illumi didn't reply her with words, he just kissed her forehead. Illumi had done it for himself, he just bought his freedom by himself. For the first time in his life, he detached himself from the Zoldyck. For the first time, he went against the family and lived according to his own choice.

A bulky old man with graying hair waited in front of the gate. The old man pushed the gate for the couple to walk through.

In front of the gate, Illumi and Hidako were greeted by Hidako's men. They had two black Yordian cars waiting for them, there was the brown skinned man with short stature and unruly hair wearing a black suit waiting for them. "Let me help Mister Illumi," the man said it in his incredibly thick South East Azian accent. Joko then helped Illumi entering the car.

Hidako did not immediately entered the car, she gazed at the gate once more. The stone gate that weighed more than a tank. She never opened the gate by herself, it was too heavy for her. Her memories travelled back to the first time she entered the Zoldyck territory, the first time she met Illumi, the dark dining room, her first time with Illumi, the wedding, the wedding night, the honeymoon, they were all so beautiful, then it went down like a rollercoaster. It started with the rape and it ended with her miscarriage.

_Relief_. That's what she felt. Hidako released the pent-up breath before going inside the car.

_Goodbye, Zoldyck Mansion_.

**Author's Note :**

**I hope that i managed to project Kikyou's toxic parenting to her children in this chapter. Illumi had always strived to be the best he could and when he made small mistake(in assassin level), he got severe beating and when he did good, it's not enough. It's just an example on how cruel she was to him. **

**When Hidako praised him and questioned why he's not the heir , it pleased him very much. He realized how the family(especially his own mother) never appreciated him that much despite him being a guy who strived very hard to be the perfect Zoldyck.**

**Hidako is not a manipulator but she is a specialist, she's getting pretty good with her illusion, it's pretty much the same with something that she had done with Christian Archway. She could make the object of her nen to see Hidako as something else.**

**Amane is alive and well. Milluki did not kill her. Probably Kikyou would make her life a living hell for pestering into something that's not in her job description though. **

**I still have no idea what i'm going to write for the next "arc" so i don't think that i'll post it next week, i'll keep the fic tag as "in-progress" even though this chapter means that it's the ending of the whole Kukuro Mountain Zoldyck Mansion drama. **

**Please reviews/comments some more for they are highly appreciated and the reason why i keep on writing! Thank you. **


	18. New Page

**Chapter 18 : New Page**

_Zoldyck Mansion_

It was the night after the couple left the mansion. The family was having a dinner together.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You just let our son go away with a lunatic whore?" Kikyou could already sit on a wheel chair. She was sitting at the dining room along with the other Zoldycks, except Zeno.

"There is a reason why i let them go," Silva's voice blared through the room. It shook Kikyou and their sons.

"Kikyou, i am going to ask you one more time, were you the one who poisoned Hidako with Inssumdurum ?" Silva's eyes pierced right through Kikyou's. "How come you don't believe me? We've been married for more than twenty years!" Kikyou was hysterically crying, for another time. Their sons could only watch their parents arguing with each other. It was always like that, Silva would be angry and he would yell and then Kikyou would reply with another yelling and then she would weep, wanted to do suicide and then they'd stop yelling at each other.

"Mother, would you please stop with your crocodile tears and just admit that you're at fault here?" Killua was so pissed with the repeating scenario. "How come you accuse me too?" She cried even harder. The silver-haired boy just rolled eyes at her respond.

"Nobody hates Lady Hidako in this house more than mom, dad! Anyway, no one can pick Inssumdurum in this house except mom!" Killua's so annoyed by his parents' respond, his finger was pointing at his mother. His mother was the definition of drama queen and he couldn't stand more drama in the household.

"She is always a manipulative woman!" Killua added. Kikyou cried harder and screamed louder. Like a baby. As expected, Killua's eyes rolling again.

"Kikyou, there is definitely a strong reason why Illumi left the house and chose Hidako even after she told him that she'd divorce him," Silva touched his wife's hand. He was trying to calm her.

"Kikyou, what's done is done. Illumi had left the house because of everything that had happened to Lady Hidako and you certainly know that's because of you," Zeno appeared from the hall, he had his hands tucked back with two bodyguards. He then sat on his chair. He just came back from a mission.

Kikyou's hands were already at the wheels of her wheelchair, ready to excuse herself from the conversation.

"Kikyou, stay," Zeno sat at the chair and gazed at the Azian woman.

"If it weren't because of you, my grandchild and his wife wouldn't have left the house," Zeno pointed his finger to Kikyou, his eyes were piercing right to her eyes.

"Grandchild? After twenty five years of seeing Illumi as a son of a lowlife, now _you_ call him your grandchild? Father, if it weren't because of _you_, marrying my son off to that witch, he wouldn't have left!" Kikyou yelled back to Zeno. Zeno could feel that his blood pressure went up and he suddenly felt pain on his neck, his eyes were dilated like they were going to pop out of their sockets. "Kikyou! Get out from this room! I don't want to see your face anymore, you Meteor City roach!" Zeno slammed the table till all of the utensils on the table shook and some of them even fell of the table.

The other children and Silva who was looking at it was shocked. It was the first time Zeno being that mad to Kikyou, and he called her roach.

Silva quickly stood and pulled Kikyou's wheelchair's handle, escorting the woman to her bedroom, followed by Kalluto.

Zeno was still panting. He was so angry, he tried really hard not to lash it out and destroy the dining room. Killua was the first one talking to him "Grandpa, are you okay?" Killua asked, he looked worried at his grandfather. "I will find a way to bring those two or .. Illumi .. back to the mansion," Zeno said to Killua.

*

_Misamoto Residence_

The house was big, really really big. It was a mansion made in Japonese style with a small lake, a bridge made of stones and woods. It had high stone wall surrounding the house and they had to drive through the woods to reach Hidako's house that was located in Padokia. From the outside, it looked like a fortress.

When the Zoldycks arrived in the house. The black car's door was opened by a young bald dark-skinned butler. There was name tag "Umoja" on his suit.

Hidako got out of the black car, wearing a black dress with torn stockings and dirty dress. The staffs were all waiting for her, they were all lined up in front of the mansion. There were at least thirty staffs there. The men were wearing black suit and some of the women were wearing simple pastel colored yukata, some others were wearing black suit, just like the men. Illumi also got out of the car, with bandage on his leg and arm. He was being helped by the black butler, Umoji.

"Welcome home, Lady Hidako and Mister Zoldyck," One of the female staffs walked to Hidako and bowed down to show her respect. She was an Azian women in her fifties with her hair styled in a bun, half of her hair had already turned white. "Illumi, this is Tomoe, she's my personal butler here," Hidako introduced the woman to her husband. To think about it, Illumi knew nothing about Hidako's previous life, aside from her being Taka's daughter and she was a princess from a ruined kingdom.

"Tomoe, would you please escort my husband to our bedroom?" Hidako commanded the older woman, she just nodded. "Illumi-sama, would you please follow me," her coarse voice sounded like she used to be a woman who smoked a lot of cigarettes.

"Are you not coming with me, Hidako?" Illumi's eyes were gazing her small brown eyes. "I want to see father Taka's body first," Hidako said.

Taka's corpse was in glass casket, like the fairytale character snow white. He was wearing a black suit with bow tie, lying there on a white bed in the middle of the big room. The floor was made of woods and there were few paintings on the wall and some bonsai plants around. Hidako walked inside the room with the company of Umoji.

She walked right to the casket to look at the corpse of her foster father. A pale face, pale skin, everything looked like him but paler, dead. She hated how every memory about him was only the good one, never the bad one since his death. Tears fell down to the glass casket. Umoji quickly offered the young woman a tissue from his pocket and let the young woman wiped her tears.

"Why hasn't Father Taka being cremated?" Hidako remembered that it was the custom of the family for the corpse to be cremated.

"Taka-sama told me that he would like Lady Hidako to lead the cremation ceremony," Umoji replied to the young woman.

*

The house was huge, and it was a quite long walk to Hidako's bedroom. It was a big bedroom with a sliding door, it was decorated mostly in white color but filled with paintings that's dominated by the color orange red on the wall. In the middle of the bed with the white sheet was two sets of towel shaped as swans and a letter. The room was definitely bigger than Illumi's, there were three rooms inside the room, powder room, closet room and bathroom. Despite the traditional interior, the place was very high-technology with automatic lamps, curtain and artificial intelligence personal assistance.

It was the first time for Illumi to stay in someone's house outside mission. He understood completely why Zeno asked him to marry Hidako. It was always the money. She's a foster daughter of a rich man. Her house was bigger than his and it's perhaps only one of her houses.

He bathed inside Hidako's bathroom. It was a very white-dominated bathroom with a big tub and a glass box. The sink and cabinet was big and luxurious. It was designed like a presidential suite of a 5 stars hotel in York New.

There was also a music player in the bathroom, so, he could bathe while listening to music. When Illumi turned the volume up, Debussy's Clair De Lune was playing. Illumi took his outfit off and walked into the glass box. The warm water soothed his sore muscles and washed all of his wounds. He pumped the soap from the white colored bottle and lathered his body, it smelled like lavender.

*

The one week in Minamoto Household felt like

Honeymoon for Illumi. It was a fresh new experience for him. A house where the weather was not gloomy most of the time, a house with birds singing in the morning, and a garden with more common plants and animals. There were even bambi in her garden.

But, his wife was still recovering from her trauma. She still woke up screaming in the middle of the night and she still couldn't feel anything whenever he penetrated her.

Illumi knew that he had to come back to do more missions, he had to be the breadwinner for the family, just like his father and his grandfather were.

As scheduled, Illumi had a mission located in Glam Gas. It was to assassinate a drug dealer who sold drugs to a rich's man daughter and he was also dating the young girl. The location was at the hotel, where the rich man's daughter would spend her night with her drug dealer boyfriend.

Illumi arrived at the designated hotel room through the window. There were a blonde young man, bleeding out, lying on the marble floor, dead.

Suddenly, a familiar figure came out of the bathroom. A child with dark blue yukata and big purple eyes, looking at Illumi.

"Kalluto, what are you doing here?" The young man asked the boy in front of him.

"Doing my mission," Kalluto said while he took tissues from the tissue box at the table near the bed and wiped his wet hands.

"This is my mission. How are you doing my mission?" Illumi's starting to sound pissed. He should've been informed.

"Hmm ... Papa, Mama and Grandpa said that if you're not going back to the house, they're making sure that you'll have no client, or at least our big clients or our regular clients," Kalluto told his brother. Illumi was angry but he knew it's futile to attack the messenger. He just stood there, staring at his little brother.

"I'm done with the mission. I'm leaving right now!" Kalluto had already walked towards the window but he turned his face to his brother. "You really should come back you know," Kalluto said before completely jumping off of the window.

He never expected his family would prevent him from doing his profession. He felt that his chest was tightening. He never felt that angry before towards his family. He's a man defined by his profession and then his profession was taken just because he chose something by himself. Was the price of freedom supposed to be that big?

**Author's Note :**

I took me a pretty long time to actually come up with the idea of this arc. It's always enjoyable to write this fic but it would need a complete plot first before i could write tho.

Dear guests, thank you for your kind comments. Please keep on commenting/reviewing for the they are the reasons why i keep on writing!


	19. Unprecedented Burden

**Chapter 19 : Unprecedented Burden**

One day, two lawyers came into their household. Tomoe, Illumi and Hidako along with the two Azian lawyers were sitting in the chairs at the household's meeting room. It was a western style table and wallpaper with the design of sakura leaves. In front of them, there was a view of a garden with pond filled with arowana fish.

"It is unfortunate that we have to say that Mr. Taka acquired a lot of debts and they have to be paid in three months for now. If Lady Hidako can't pay his debts in three months, all of Mr Taka's properties will be confiscated by the bank," Her eyes widened. It was a huge surprise for Hidako. She knew that Taka was a patron to some casinos of the world but for him to die and left her that amount of debt. That was unthinkable. She realized that's why he married her off to a Zoldyck. So, she did not have to bear the burden. Tomoe who heard that didn't seem surprised, she kept on looking at Lady Hidako. Who maintained to smile despite of what she had heard.

Tomoe had known about the debt. Mr. Taka had already paid all of the expenses for the staffs for the rest of the year and he had already arranged their resignation time, it was as if he had known that he was going to die.

"Sure," The young lady smiled towards the lawyers, covering her frustration with fake smile.

After the lawyers left, Tomoe held Hidako's hands. "Lady Hidako, i'm sorry, i should've told you before. Mr. Taka never expected that you and Mr. Illumi Zoldyck would come back to this household," Hidako gazed down. She never thought that Taka would be like that, she never thought that her marriage with Illumi would mean having to deal with financial problem as well. She looked sad and Tomoe could see that. Lady Hidako did not deserve to experience this all. She thought. But, Hidako's gaze move towards Tomoe and she faked another smile and said "It's okay. I believe Illumi and i will be able to take care of it."

*

_Hidako's and Illumi's Bed Room_

A woman wearing a light silk kimono in green was writing on the table inside her bedroom.

That night, Hidako was calculating how many times she had to read and what could she do to pay for Taka's debts. She also added the antiques she could sell in order to pay for his debts.

"No, these aren't enough," Hidako broke the pencil she used to write on the paper. She was frustrated, she couldn't stop biting her nails and tapping her feet.

"Hidako, what are you doing?" She was so busy with her calculation, that she didn't realize that her husband just walked inside the room.

"How was your job?" She looked at her husband in front of her. He was wearing his regular green outfit with puffy sleeves, his favorite. His hair was being tied in ponytail.

"My family cut any ties with my old clients and perhaps most of the richest clients that i can have," Illumi replied calmly while he was removing his top off of his body, exposing his nude torso. He didn't smell like gunpowder or blood, he smelled good. He didn't do any mission and it was obvious.

"We really are screwed," Hidako's shoulder hunched , her eyes were gazing on the floor, her brown eyes looked really dull.

"Why did you say that?" Illumi asked his wife while he was touching his wife silk-covered shoulder with his fingers taking the paper in front of his wife and read it.

"Father Taka left me with huge amount of debt, all of his properties, including this house will be confiscated by the bank if i can't pay in three months," Hidako touched Illumi's hand, her index finger was rubbing the ring on his finger. She kept on gazing to the floor.

Illumi could definitely read between the lines why Taka could leave her with such debt. Taka married Hidako off so he could spend all of his fortunes(because he knew he was going to die) and did not have to worry about his only daughter because he married her off already.

"We will figure it out, don't worry, we're not going back to my house," Illumi reassured his wife. He never expected that the price would be that big.

Illumi could not do high-paying missions anymore. It's like starting as a new assassin again, a newbie assassin, new to the world. His schedule was far from packed like he was.

He could only take orders from small mafia and the payment wasn't big. It's only enough for them to live like a commoner, not the luxurious life they used to have. Hidako also increased her reading meetings. But, it was still not enough.

He could be at the house in the afternoon and that afternoon, he witnesses his wife seating at the sofa with Tomoe beside her and three male staffs in front of her, not wearing their regular suits. They were bowing down simultaneously to Hidako.

"Lady Hidako, i wish i could serve you again in the future," One of the men, took of his "Umoji" name tag, he was wearing only yellow shirt and jeans and he bowed down once more to Hidako.

"Thank you, Lady Hidako. It was a pleasure to serve you," The other one, a blond boy said to Lady Hidako.

She was letting go of those three butlers because of financial reason. She couldn't pay them. The money's not enough. She had to save up to pay for Taka's debts.

Illumi could see sadness in Hidako's face. After the three left, Illumi could see the old woman Tomoe held Hidako's hands and rubbed her back. A part of him felt a slight guilt for leaving the house. They would've lived lavishly at the Zoldyck Mansion. But, then his mother's face came back to his mind. Mother killed our baby, she would stop at nothing to get rid of Hidako. Getting out of the mansion was the only way they could survive as a family.

*

There was a couple who fancied Hidako's reading a lot. That night, they were inviting Hidako and Illumi to their party as a gratitude for her pleasing them with her reading. They held a party inside their big house.

The light was warm-colored and the house was very luxurious. It was a Western style party with buffet foods and lots of alcoholic drinks, mostly wine and champagne. The guests were wearing masks, it was like a masquerade. Hidako came wearing a purple long dress made of sequin and Illumi came wearing a black suit. Both of them were wearing masks on.

After greeting and saying thank you owner of the party, Hidako and Illumi were separated. Hidako knew a lot of people there, she had to greet a lot of them and invited her to her reading session.

After she was done with the formalities, she drank a champagne by herself at the bar until a man with dark hair appeared in front of her, even under his mask, it was obvious that he was a handsome man. He parted his black hair in the middle and his sparkling grey eyes could pierce right to a girl's heart, his skin was soft and pale with angular jaw and his lips were full. He was wearing a black cape on top of a suit.

The lady left her champagne on the table while her eyes observed the whole room. There was a group of men discussing business. Three women in a company of one man and suddenly when she wanted to reach for her champagne glass. That handsome masked man took her glass and drank from it.

"I think that's my glass," Hidako's eyes met his. A pair of small brown eyes met those dashing grey eyes. "Oh really?" The man teased her with his smirk. Hidako squinted her eyes, she had seen those eyes, that jaw, that pale soft skin somewhere. Mr. Archway's lover boy Chrollo Lucilfer.

"I haven't seen Mr. Archway at all oh i see ... Mr. Archway couldn't come so he sent you instead, Mr. Lucilfer," She smirked back at him. "May i ask you for a dance?" He asked her with a smirk on his face.

Chrollo and Hidako danced at the ballroom, joining the other adults who were dancing to the jazz music. Their bodies were close to each other, hands on each other's hands and their bodies moved following the music.

"I always wonder why a woman who can marry anyone like you chose to be married?" Chrollo's voice was gentle and she could feel his hot breath on her ear. She laughed at his words at her own drunkenness. "That's quite a creative way to flatter a woman, Mr. Lucilfer," She chuckled while gazing at those grey eyes of him. "There is only one reason why a young woman with money and beauty like you get married," his statement piqued her curiosity. "And what is it, Mr. Lucilfer?" She asked. His lips drew closer beside her ear and he whispered to her "To lose her virginity, so she can mess around with other men afterwards" He pulled back his head and smirked. "When i mean other men, the men she truly desires ..." Her eyes widened, she let out another chuckle to him. "What do you want Mr. Lucilfer?" Her voice suddenly changed, into serious tone. Chrollo knew that flattery would take him nowhere. Hidako wasn't a woman who could easily be swayed by some praises of her look. "Why don't we walk to the garden for some fresh air before we talk?" Chrollo smiled while putting his glass of champagne on the table.

They walked together to a garden, Hidako and Chrollo both took off their masks. They could see each other's face embraced by the moonlight that night. They were walking to the bridge on top of small pond with lots of lotus flowers on it.

"So, what does your boss _slash_ daddy want?" Hidako's brown eyes were piercing right into Chrollo's grey eyes. "He knew that Illumi Zoldyck had already got out of the Zoldyck family and now joining your assassin group. Christian would like to partner up with you in creating an even bigger assassin business," Chrollo's big doe eyes glistened under the moonlight. He kept on waiting on her answer.

"Is it your idea or Mr. Archway's idea? I can't seem to believe a man who tried to murder me and my husband would do a partnership business," Hidako huffed, grin from the edge of her lips. "Not Mr. Archway, it's from Ms. Credence, a woman, who is a lot richer and with a lot more influence than Mr. Archway," Chrollo answered.

"I know your financial situation is bad right now. Your husband just got disowned from the Zoldyck family and Mr. Taka is dead, and you're also lacking of clients and i assume that you're not the type of woman who do not want to succumb into poverty," Chrollo teased the young woman.

"Why should i believe a sweet mouthed pretty boy who served two masters or are you serving Ms. Credence only now?" Hidako was staring right into the pretty boy's eyes.

"You might not know that your father was also a subordinate of Mrs. Credence and we all know if you want to deal with Mrs. Credence you have to go to her house to meet her, pledge your loyalty, she'll give you whatever you want in this life," Chrollo's eyes were so inviting, those grey doe eyes spoke the truth.

"A sugar daddy _and_ a sugar mommy? How rich of you," Hidako grinned, cheeks blushing pink because of the alcohol. But, she gazed back at those grey doe eyes and asked "Where and when can i see her?"

*

During his separation with his wife, he met his friend, Hisoka, dressed in a burgundy suit, wearing a small mask that only covered a part of his eyes. Illumi could immediately tell that it was Hisoka.

"My, my, who would have thought that i'd meet you here," Hisoka said while his eyes were scrutinizing the long-haired man in black suit in front of him, with half of his faced being covered with a white porcelain mask.

"What are you doing here?" Illumi asked his friend. "I am just enjoying a good party while playing bodyguard towards that little princess over there," Hisoka chuckled while drinking the champagne from the glass he was holding while eyeing towards a petite girl with flare dress and red bows on her head. "Care for one?" Hisoka took another glass of champagne from the table and offered it to Illumi. "No," Illumi replied to Hisoka, the red haired man put the glass back on the table.

Illumi's eyes didn't even look at Hisoka as both of them leaned on the wall the edge of the room, the man was observing everyone in the room.

"Do you already know that you and your wife can't join or enter Heaven's Arena anymore? Oh and your Hunter status is deactivated?" Hisoka's words caught Illumi's attention. The man then looked at the clown's face.

"What?" Illumi was surprised. He never thought that his family would go to that extent to prevent him to do any possible job that he would do so he would come home.

"Well, the last time i went there, i accidentally stumbled into the blacklist page of the Heaven's Arena and i saw your status at the Hunter Association's web page," Hisoka, who stayed a fighter in the Heaven's Arena explained.

"Shouldn't you mingle and promote yourself just like your wife?" Hisoka asked while drinking another glass of champagne.

"It's useless," Illumi eventually took a glass of champagne and drank it. The room was filled with old money who have definitely already been warned not to deal with that one Zoldyck with huge doll eyes.

Hisoka was observing through the room but he couldn't find Hidako anymore. But, then he walked to the window, looking out to the garden. He saw a woman and a man walking together, without their masks on, he grinned when he saw it, Hidako and Chrollo Lucilfer.

"Look, seems like your wife was at the garden, with a _very_ handsome young man," He said, with a grin on his face. Illumi couldn't help but walked to the window and looked at the view. His blood burnt when he saw them at the garden. He wanted to just walk down and pull Hidako. But, he knew it's dumb to create such commotion in that high-class party, it would only embarrass himself and would definitely bring joy to his mother seeing him and Hidako in a feud. So, he waited until he had his wife back for himself.

"Oh! I think i saw them dancing before they went out to the garden," Hisoka added more fuel to the fire. He grinned. He knew Illumi's very possessive, it would possibly create an enjoyable drama. But, Illumi stayed silent, he knew how to not react to such trivial matters in front of people.

*

_Minamoto Mansion._

Once they both arrived in their bedroom, Illumi pushed Hidako, cornering her on the wall. His hand choked her neck and pushed her to the wall, causing the woman to flinch in pain. "You ... why did you dance with that Phantom Troupe boss?" Hidako felt suffocated, her fingers were grappling his hand but she couldn't even move his fingers to loosen up. "I ... i .. llu ... mi," She was stuttering his name.

"It's ... just ... business," Hidako still tried really hard to make Illumi to let go of her neck. He choked her even harder, until she suddenly changed into a silver-haired boy Illumi cared dearly. He let go of his hands.

Hidako was gasping for breath in her own form. "I could have died!" She yelled at Illumi. "Lucilfer told me to see Mrs Crendence, she's going to help us with father's debt and your assassin unemployment issue," Hidako transformed back to herself with her hand still touching her neck. The Credence named rang a bell. It's a name of an internationally powerful family and not only in underground world but also in politics and business. But, then Illumi remembered that family was associated with Royal Archway Casino. Suddenly, the air became suffocating. Illumi had just released his nen.

"No, i don't want to deal with anyone that has anything to do with a man who tried to kill me and my brother," Illumi's dark doll eyes turned like something from horror movie.

"Illumi, we have no choice!" Hidako yelled at him. It was the second time Hidako yelled at Illumi, he felt like his blood boiled once again. "Shut up!" He yelled back at her with his hand grabbing hers, and his nen horrified her. "Illumi ... Are you going to choke me again? Do you think by choking me it will solve our financial problem?" Hidako stood still, even though she could already feel goosebumps all over her spine. Her eyes were staring at Illumi's like a wolf's eyes, the eyes of someone who would fight him, eyes of someone who would risk anything to get what she wanted. "Fine, but, you will take care of everything, i don't want to meet Mr. Archway at all," Ilumi's nen disappeared and the air came back to normal.

It was a rainy night and both of them were sleeping on the same bed. But, they were not facing each other. Their backs met until Illumi initiated to try hugging her from her back, only to be replied with her shrugging his arms off of her body.

"I'm still hurt that you love your little brother more than me," Hidako said without facing her husband's face. Illumi didn't react at her words. Blood really is thicker than water.

**Author's Note :**

I would like to apologize beforehand for Chrollo being a little too OOC here. I'll try to make him more into character in future chapters.

i do not actually read the manga so i won't follow the manga's storyline.

Thank you for the comments and please comment some more for they are the reason why i keep on writing!

Disclaimer : Hunter x Hunter doesn't belong to me


	20. Shrine Of Yulla

**Chapter 20 : Shrine of Yulla**

"Ms. Credence only wants to see you and only you alone," the message from the doe-eyes pretty boy was clear. No one but Hidako who could see Mrs. Credence.

Hidako came to the big white-colored mansion at the edge of the town just like it was ordered by Ms. Credence. She came inside the mansion inside a black shiny limousine. She put on a black cape with hood that covered every part of her body except a bit of her neck and her face. When she got out of the limo, she was wearing a Vinetian mask, made of porcelain with feather ornament at the upper part of the mask and two blue colored stones on the eye part. She came alone, just like how Chrollo had requested.

She was being greeted by two tall men with brunette hair, wearing a dress vest and both of them were also wearing Vinetian mask. "What is the password?" One of them asked Hidako. His voice was soft and gentle. "Parsifal," Hidako answered. One of the men suddenly took Hidako's hand with his white gloved hand and led her inside the mansion. It was a big mansion, the biggest she had ever seen in her life, with neo-classic painting on its high ceiling and a very luxe chandelier. She saw a woman with a Vinetian mask and lustrous blonde hair walking around almost naked, with nothing but her black g-string panties and a pair of black high-heels. Her body was like a Barbie doll, tall, with small waist, teardrop breasts and very long and slender legs. There was also a blonde naked man walking around the mansion too, with eight pack abs, tanned skin, and body that's shaped like a Greek statue. He was also covering his face with a mask.

Hidako was being led by the man with vest into one of the rooms of the mansion. When she opened the room, she could see that a man with familiar aura was sitting with his leg crossed on the baroque design chair, wearing a shirt under a grey vest and long cigarette pants, wearing a Vinetian mask, covering his whole face. His black hair was being part in the middle, his bangs were covering the mask. He smelled like rose mixed with musk.

"So, you chose to come just like i requested, alone, without Illumi," The man grinned, his fingers were fiddling with the diamond ring that he was wearing. "Chrollo Lucilfer!" Hidako knew exactly from that gentle melodic voice the identity of the man behind the mask. The man in front of her took off his mask, exposing his handsome face. Hidako followed by taking off her mask, she didn't wear much makeup that day, just a simple loose powder, mascara and soft pink lipstick. "What kind of place is this?" Hidako could feel the eerie tone of the place, everyone worn mask and there were naked model-esque men and women walking around almost naked around the place. "It is the altar of Yulla. A shrine made by Ms. Credence to worship Goddess Yulla, the Goddess of Miracle," His calm demeanor and his uncovered cross tattoo on his forehead made him looked very out-of-a-movie bewitching, even Hidako had to admit that the man in front of her was incredibly handsome and charming. "All you need to do is worship Goddess Yulla and Ms. Credence will give you anything you want in life, wealth? Connection? Love? She can fulfill anything you want, including shutting up the Zoldycks, so your husband could work as an assassin again just the way he was," Chrollo explained. Hidako felt that there was something really fishy about this whole thing but she had no choice, she wouldn't risk everything just because she did not want to do some ridiculous belief.

"Now, shall we put on our masks and see Ms. Credence?" Chrollo said while he put his mask again, followed by Hidako putting on her mask on.

*

Both of them were guided by two people, a naked man and a naked woman, with their faces covered and with bodies like Greek statues.

They both entered a room, in that room there was someone covered with a black cape and a Japoness female mask sitting on a big chair, much like a king's chair, there were two other people beside her. A tall guy with long ears, his face was covered in blue Vinetian mask and his body was covered in cape, while the other one was a tall blonde man, face covered in Vinetian mask with green crystals on the eye area. Once the doors were closed and the naked staffs got out of the room. Everyone shrugged the hoods of their capes and took off their masks.

"Here, i present to you, Lady Hidako Zoldyck, daughter of Minamoto Taka and wife of Illumi Zoldyck," Chrollo bowed down to present Hidako to the woman who was sitting in front of him.

"Welcome to the Shrine of Yulla, Mrs. Hidako Zoldyck," A feminine voice with obvious Trussian accent and a very beautiful Yordian face. A woman with red eyes and long platinum blonde hair and bangs that covered her forehead was gazing to Hidako, with a sinister smile forming on her red lips.

The other two beside her were a big man with long ears, very strong jaw and scars on his face and a familiar tall blonde man with bronze skin. They were also scrutinizing Hidako.

"Good evening, Ms. Credence," Hidako bowed down to the woman in front of her.

"Rise, my child," The woman stood up and walked towards Hidako, her hand was on her chin, she pulled the girl up to face her.

"A classic Azian beauty, i never expected Taka to have a beautiful daughter," She chuckled with her red eyes kept on gazing at Hidako's brown eyes.

"Chrollo told me that you're in huge debt because of one of Goddess Yulla's deceased followers, Taka, and your husband couldn't work anymore as an high-profile assassin, i can help you with that... but, only if you pledge your loyalty to me and worship Goddess Yulla," All eyes were in the room were on Hidako. "Do you wish to pledge loyalty to me and to the Goddess Yulla?" Her red eyes were eerily beautiful yet very intimidating. Hidako gulped down her saliva, and she was trembling she could feel a very strong nen radiating from the woman in front of her. But, she had no choice, so, she nodded and she said "Yes" to the beautiful woman in front of her.

"Franklin, Phinx, prepare Mrs. Zoldyck over here to form the contract," Both men quickly walked behind Hidako. Hidako could feel that her arms were being held by men twice, thrice her size. She was shaking in fear. She never felt that scared before, there were three men in the room and a very intimidating woman in the room.

"You will read for me and you will attend our meeting once every month and you will tell no one about whatever happens in our meeting, including your family," the woman's red eyes were staring at her with horror, just like Illumi's eyes when he was angry. Hidako was still trembling in fear, her throat suddenly felt dry and her heart felt like it's going to go out if her chest but Hidako couldn't move, her arms were being held by two big men.

"Yes ... i will ..," Hidako had no choice. She had to save her family.

The beautiful woman in front if Hidako then raised both of her hands, looked up and prayed "Dear Goddess of Yula, I, Ecaterina Credence, as a priestess of Yulla hereby declare Hidako Zoldyck as a subject of Yulla," A strong surge of nen was felt by everyone in the room and Hidako froze. Then, the red eyes were piercing right into her soul, while her hand slowly formed a claw shape just like the Zoldyck's claw shaped hand and then inserted her hand into Hidako's forehead. The girl was screaming in pain,it felt like a sword piercing to her chest, but then Phinks pulled a cloth and put in Hidako's mouth. The process was done in a minute but it felt like forever for Hidako.

"Now, I will know if you tell your husband or anyone if you break the secrecy, your would be a mute and you will lose your nen for the rest of your life," Ecaterina said while the two men let go of Hidako, the young woman fell on the marble floor and put out the cloth out of her mouth.

"I've pleaded my loyalty, when can i get my debt paid in full price and my husband to be able to work again?" Hidako quickly asked Ecaterina, she was still panting because of the pain she caused. "Not that fast, young lady, you will have to please the prophet first if you want something that big to be done," Ecaterina squatted down and pulled Hidako's chin once again. "I knew Taka ... he's a man who upheld a conservative belief of how a woman should be, he must have raised you to be a so-called pure woman, a graceful lady," Ecaterina's eyes were squinting while observing for the young lady's small face then let go of her fingers from her chin. "Prophet of Yulla, what do you want me to do?" Hidako asked. Ecaterina stopped a while and observed Chrollo, Franklin and Phinx. Her fingers were on her own chin, she was thinking. Suddenly, she grinned.

"On my left side, there's a private worshipping room for Goddess Yulla, i want you to make love with Chrollo in that room as a form of worship towards the Goddess," Ecaterina's words shocked Hidako. Her jaw dropped and her mouth was opened. Illumi's face came into her mind. She could not betray her husband.

"What if i won't do it?" Hidako shivered in the idea of sleeping with another man beside her husband.

"Consider it as a task you must do in order to get your husband's job back, you do know it's not easy to reverse your husband's unemployment, right? It comes with a bigger price," Ecaterina fiddled with her blonde strands, she was grinning while staring at the young woman.

_No way. No fucking way i'm cheating from my husband. _Hidako closed both of her eyes. Her husband's face and those doll eyes came into her mind. She couldn't betray him.

"Can you live in poverty, my dear Hidako?" Ecaterina huffed. She knew Hidako couldn't. She always lived like a princess. Hidako froze, she still didn't move. The men in the room were glaring at her. "You're doing it for your husband, your family, no one knows anyway. Whatever happens in The Shrine of Yulla stays in The Shrine of Yulla," Ecaterina said while playing with her perfectly manicured red nails.

"Fine!I'll do it! But, i will need _the prophet of Yulla_ to sign the contracts first," Hidako pulled out a folder filled with contract papers about the debts and her husband's employment, including the Archway employment. Hidako then put it on the small table near Ecaterina's throne. Ecaterina grinned, it was a mood breaker indeed. She pulled out a pen out of her cape, walked to the table and signed all the papers.

"Chrollo, Franklin and Phinx, you guys are the witnesses, now let's see how this Lady will worship Goddess Yulla," Ecaterina smiled.

Chrollo quickly walked in front of Hidako. He pulled Hidako's hand and kissed it. "Shall we?" The handsome man's eyes were gazing at Hidako's face, she wasn't fazed by his charm. Both of them walked side by side with his hand guiding hers to the private worship room.

The room was a small room with a small window at the ceiling of the room at the edge of the room, the moonlight fell right on Goddess of Yulla's status. A naked slim woman colored white with long wavy gold-covered hair that touched the ground, she was pouring a pot contained gold coins and diamonds. There was a four low bed in silk black sheet and each of them had a pillow covered also in silk black sheet. The floor was made out of black marble with gold ornaments and the center part of the room with the beds on was covered in black fur. The walls were covered in mirror with gold edges.

Chrollo took off his shoes and his cape. Then he hung the cape on the wooden hanger. He then took off his shoes, socks, his vest and his shirt, Hidako could see his incredibly toned muscular back. He's more muscular than Illumi. He's beautiful indeed. No wonder Archway loved him. He then took off his trouser, he was only wearing underwear. He was a little hairy than her husband, especially on the legs part. Chrollo realized that Hidako was observing him, from top to toe.

"Do you want me to take your clothes off?" He batted his long lashes, his eyes were mesmerizing, the clear hypnotic grey eyes, his smooth pale skin and lips that softly smiled. Hidako froze. She shouldn't be lusting over another man who's not Illumi.

Chrollo walked closer, the cross on his forehead spoke nothing about being pure, he's the opposite of pure, he's full of sin and he became a lot of people's temptation. He pulled the string of her cape, it fell down on the floor. She was wearing a sleeveless satin top and a trouser. He then quickly kissed her out of surprise. Hidako automatically pushed him off. His lips were really soft and moist. Hidako could feel that her body temperature was rising. Her cheeks were blushing in pink. "You're really cute, you know," Chrollo wiped his lips. "You agreed to do you it, we're not going to get out of this room until we make love," He said to her in flirty manned. Hidako's heart was beating rapidly. Is she really doing it? She's going to cheat on Illumi with this dashing man in front of her. Hidako gulped down her saliva once more and she nodded. She averted her gaze and took off her heels, unzipped her pants and pulled up her top. Her rib cages were showing, she had gotten a lot thinner then she was. She was wearing a black lace bra and a matching silk panties. Hidako then walked to the bed and laid down, with her back on the bed. Chrollo followed and he was on top of her. "Utsukushi," the man smirked. God! He is very very handsome! Hidako blushed at the sight of the man on top of her. "Isn't that how the Japoness says to a beautiful woman?" He said with those damn doe eyes. Hidako had never used that language for a long time. Too long. "Yes," But she nodded at the man in front of her. Was it his power? She couldn't help but let herself be hypnotized by his beauty, a face perfectly symmetrical, eyes like bambi, smooth black hair, and a body shaped like a Greek Statue. His finger travelled down her crevice, he quickly found her button and rubbed it gently. Hidako could feel tingling sensation, she was quickly drenched in her own liquid. Chrollo then kissed the Lady in front of him. Her body complied to his touch, like she just couldn't reject it.

_How can someone be so perfect looking? _She didn't close her eyes when he was licking and kissing her body while pulling her panties down. Chrollo was like a work of art come to life. She couldn't miss a second of him trying to pleasure her. _Hidako, you're a lewd woman! How could you enjoy a man who's not your husband fucking you!_ Hidako immediately closed her eyes. She shouldn't be enjoying this dashing gentleman in front of her, using his tongue to pleasure her. But, it only increased her sensitivity. The woman was very much drenched. She tried to control not to moan but a moan slipped out of her mouth. He stopped and Hidako opened her eyes "My lady, you should surrender to your primal instinct" He stopped and he crawled back to be on top of her, his grey doe eyes were gazing at hers once again with so much gentle affection. Hidako could feel his erection was growing hard on her thigh. It was big. They eyes met for a while before he started to ravage her mouth, her body once more, harder and rougher. His big hands groping her breasts and his tongue was dancing inside her mouth. It reminded her of her own early wedding days with Illumi. It was really enjoyable and Hidako couldn't hold that anymore, she let out of her moan. She's enjoying that beautiful creature on top of her doing that to her. He put on the rubber protection and without any warning, he entered her. They were making love all night, Hidako almost felt like she was hypnotized. She followed every order the doe eyed man asked her to do, including riding him on top of him with his hands grabbing her hips roughly. He kept on whispering "_Utsukushi_" while looking at her reflection at the mirror. He was rough but it was a mind-blowing toe-curling experience for Hidako. She fell into the temptation and she enjoyed every bit of it.

They were both making love until both of them were exhausted, they were lying on the bed, side to side. Hidako had orgasm and it's been months he had no orgasm at all after her miscarriage. Everytime she saw Illumi's face during sex, she would remember about the baby and that caused her not to feel anything.

"You're wonderful" Chrollo moved to her side and kissed her head. Hidako did not bother his word and kept on gazing at the sky above her, it was a night full of stars. She felt guilty.

"How long have you been doing this?" Hidako was still panting, she was sweaty and her chest was still moving up and down. "I've known Mrs. Credence since i was a child, she baptized me when i was fifteen years old," Chrollo faced the young woman. "I'm never her lover, Hidako-sama," Hidako couldn't help but to look at the man beside her, his cheeks were flushing and he still looked as beautiful as he was. "Do you want another round?" He smirked with a wink. She wanted it. But, she declined his offer. She stood up and quickly got herself dressed to leave the mansion.

*

Credence Residence. Dining Room. 7 PM.

It was a huge mansion in Trussia. The mansion was owned by Ecaterina Credence. The dining room was huge and it two huge chandeliers hanging on the ceiling, and there were paintings of the Credence family there. There was a long table in the middle of it and there were Ecaterina Credence, and Chrollo Lucilfer dining at that table. They were eating steak on hot plates.

"Miss Ecaterina, Why did you ask me to sleep with Lady Hidako?" Chrollo was there, eating his steak wearing a simple black sweater on with his hair slicked back. "It's a first step," Ecaterina was drinking her wine, she was wearing her pink satin shirt and black jeans. "You will seduce her and make her ours," Ecaterina's dark red iris pierced right into Chrollo's eyes. "Do you not believe in her, pledging her loyalty to you? She would lose her tongue and her nen if she chose to betray you," Chrollo ate another portion of his steak. "Taka's a stubborn man, i am just taking precaution if his daughter turned out like him, she was raised by him after all, we need to break her barrier, Chrollo, one by one," Ecaterina used her fingers to act if they were two legs on the table, taking one two three steps. "Now i think i understand what you're trying to achieve here, Ms. Credence," Chrollo smirked.

*

**Author's Note : **

Here i am introducing new character again, Ecaterina Credence. A middle aged woman with beautiful blonde hair and beautiful face with dark red eyes. She will be featured a lot in this arc.

Thank you for the comments and please review some more!


	21. The Creeping Guilt

**Chapter 21 : The Creeping Guilt**

It was late at night. Illumi had just finished his freelance mission with Hisoka. If it were not because of Hisoka, he wouldn't have gotten that job. Both of them were standing on an old building's roof, gazing at the glimmering York New city. The cold wind blew his face and his hair. It felt nice to him.

"Come out, here is _your_ beloved big brother," Hisoka whistled out of nowhere with his eyes gazing at the door behind him. A small figure wearing a blue kimono came out of the dark. His short bob hair was blown by the wind, exposing his delicate face and his eyes. "What are you doing here?" Illumi was surprised to see his little brother coming out from the dark. He was unnoticeable, he was being better with his zetsu. "Big brother, i am now a member of Phantom Troupe," Kalluto walked closer to Illumi's side. Illumi didn't say a thing. He just remembered his father's words.

_Don't mess around with the Phantom Troupe._

He just stood there, looking at his younger brother. "I know about your unemployment," Kalluto's hair was blown by the wind, exposing his small face. "You should join the Troupe! Mr. Chrollo takes care of everything, money will never be a problem," Kalluto enthusiastically said it to his brother. Chrollo Lucilfer. Illumi had known the infamous guy for few years then but when he was dancing with Hidako, he was sure he disliked him. "He flirted with my wife, how can i trust a man like him?" Illumi was cold, he always was but his days outside the mansion made him even colder. "He promised to me that he would take care of big brother and Lady Hidako if big brother is willing to join Phantom Troupe," Kalluto's eyes told no lies. "Well ... Chrollo took care of his members ... he will take care of you and your _pretty_ wife _very very _well," Hisoka chuckled while slipping his thumb in between of his index and middle fingers. Illumi averted his gaze to the city again.

_Don't mess around with the Phantom Troupe. _

"I'll think about it," Illumi replied.

*****

Minamoto Household. The couple's bed room. 4:30 AM.

The sky was dark and Hidako had just came home. She took a very long shower with warm water, she felt very dirty because she had just slept with a stranger and she enjoyed it. She rubbed her skin roughly so many times with soap as if there was dirt on her arms. When her skin started to be red and stinging, she stopped. She cried because even though she washed herself, the feeling of disgust didn't go away.

After she was done bathing, she put a long sleeve night gown on her body as she snuck under the blanket. Her husband was sleeping wearing a t-shirt and boxer shorts, Hidako hugged him from his back, causing the man to be awake. He turned his head back and gazed at his wife's face, her eyes were already closed. "Sleep, just sleep, Illumi," as she whispered to his ear, both of them drifted off to sleep.

*

Hidako's Dressing Room. 4 PM.

It was a cloudy evening and there were two women in the dressing room. It was a big closet filled with various clothes, shoes, accessories and everything a woman needed to put on so she'd look stunning. There were also two chairs, a table with mirror with lights on.

Hidako was preparing herself for another reading session. She was only wearing a skin colored shape wear and she was putting a red cream blush on her cheeks.

"I see that i am going to see a baby in this house soon," Tomoe chuckled as she pulled Hidako's hair up to style it.

"What do you mean?" Hidako stopped tapping the color on her cheeks.

"He really likes your neck, my lady," Tomoe whispered to Hidako. The girl felt that her cheeks grew warmer. Hidako quickly turned her body, she could see a bruise on her neck. A love bite. Illumi never left a love bite on her skin. The pretty boy's face came into her mind, the grey doe eyes, the pale skin and his flirty smirk. Fucking Chrollo Lucilfer. The red color on her cheeks was definitely artificial one, not because of that memory of fucking that pretty boy. She felt ashamed. She quickly took the concealer pot, pick the pigment and tapped it on the love-bite. It didn't cover her love-bite.

Tomoe was dumbfounded to see Hidako like a panic woman when she discovered the love bite. "Calm down, young lady, that is not how you cover a love bite," Tomoe quickly pulled the concealer pot away from Hidako's hand. She wiped the concealer off white makeup remover. "It's normal for a man to do it to a woman during love-making," Tomoe grabbed a cream color palette and with her finger she swiped an peach color and tapped it on the love bite. "It is not something to be ashamed of," Tomoe added the skin colored concealer and blend it with a brush. Hidako wouldn't feel inappropriate if it was a love bite from her husband. It was from another man. That pretty boy with bambi eyes that made her felt incredibly guilty, maybe she would feel less disgusted if she didn't enjoy the sex. But, she did. She liked fucking with that pretty boy whose body was sculpted like a statue of a God!

"Now, let me do these eyelids of yours," Tomoe then moved closer to her shoulder and said to her trough her reflection in the mirror while Hidako stayed silent while gazing at her own reflection.

*

Reading Theatre. Minamoto Residence. 7 PM.

The reading session was done in the usual manner. Small group of people, a requested literature. Hidako would sit at the stage with big screen behind her, like a cinema. The people would sit on the stair-like seating place with sofa and a small table for each guest. They could request any drink they wanted while listening to Hidako's.

It was a literature with sexual-tone. About a man who was obsessed with _shibari_. That day, Hidako's concentration was severely disrupted by the handsome lad with grey doe eyes and black hair. _Chrollo Lucilfer._

He stood out at the front, with his hair pushed back and his tattoo perfectly covered with makeup, he was wearing an expensive grey suit and he was smirking all the time, his grey eyes kept on looking at hers, he didn't even look at the projection she had done on screen. His eyes were fixated to her.

When the reading session was over, Hidako felt the sense of relief. After that, as usual, she would mingle with the guests. But, that day, she only mingled for a while before she escaped to the balcony. She was all alone in the balcony and just let Tomoe did all the mingling.

The reader was wearing her red kimono, along with her perfectly done hairdo, staring at the starry night while drinking her favorite Talian Wine.

Suddenly, a cold finger traced her neck, right on the love bite. His finger sent shiver right to Hidako's spine and her instinct made her slapped the man's hand right away.

"Don't touch me!" She was certainly angry. Her pitch went up a tone and her hand quickly moved to her neck, covering the bruise.

Chrollo leaned at the handrail of the balcony, he was observing the beautiful garden Minamoto Residence had right in front of it. "Guess i understand the reason why you'd do anything not to lose this beautiful place," Chrollo commented. Hidako keep on continuing drinking her wine. She didn't say anything to the young man.

"It must serve you priceless memories aside from it being beautiful," His words didn't even cause her to react. She kept on ignoring him, enjoying her wine like there was no one there.

"Please don't come here alone again, i am pretty sure the invitation was given to Mr. Christian Archway, not Mr. Chrollo Lucilfer," Hidako smirked as she walked past him, back inside the room. Her gait was no longer straight and her face was flushed, it was obvious that she started to get drunk. That night, Chrollo observed that she drank few glasses already.

She kept on walking inside the room wearing the heavy show kimono she's using in purple color. Her head started to feel dizzy and she couldn't walk straight, with such high geta, she tripped and fell, luckily for her, Chrollo caught her. She came back to those warm arms and gazing to those grey bambi eyes. Her glass fell on the floor, if was shattered to pieces, causing all the eyes to look at her, a drunk reader in the arm of a young handsome man. "Lady Hidako!" Tomoe who was conversing with one of the clients quickly rushed to Hidako and Chrollo. She snapped her fingers, signaling for the guards to help her carry the drunk lady. It was the first time she saw Hidako got drunk. A man and a woman with huge bodies in a black suit quickly came over to Hidako.

"I'd like to apologize about Lady Hidako's behavior, i'm sorry if you have to take care of her," Tomoe had pulled Hidako's body away from the young man and had made the guard carried Hidako's body. "It's okay," Chrollo smiled, Tomoe involuntarily smiled back when she saw Chrollo's smile. "Would you please send Lady Hidako back to her room?" Tomoe said to the female butler, replied by a nod from the tall woman. As the butlers walked away with Hidako's body, Chrollo and Tomoe were chit chatting with each other.

"I'm sorry about Lady Hidako, it is unusual for her to get drunk in front of the guests," Tomoe drank her wine as she observed the beautiful man with raven hair in front of her.

"It's no problem, my lady," Chrollo smiled at her. He always had that gaze that always managed to charm the ladies. Even Tomoe was swooned by his gentle voice and those dashing bambi eyes. "Just call me Madame Tomoe, i'm not a lady like Lady Hidako," Tomoe blushed. "Sure, madame Tomoe," He replied with a soft smile in his face while batting his eyes.

*

The debt was paid. But, their financial condition didn't get much better. Hidako's reading was slow and Illumi still hadn't gotten many high-paying jobs. It's either Credence lied about it or they really didn't want to deal with Illumi. She also never expected that being absent for more than a year would give huge impact to her profession. With house that huge, it required many staffs and maintenance. It would mean that they had to pay a lot of money to cover the house bills.

It was another day for Hidako to let go some if the staffs, the staffs of the west side of the house.

Ten maids, all were senior maids in whom Hidako had known since she was a child. She let them out in the same room where she would let them go.

After all them hugged her and went out of the room. There were only Hidako and Tomoe, sitting in the sofa. "Why is this so hard" Hidako cried, her hands formed fist and tears were wetting her red furisode. "The reason why Mr. Taka was letting you get married to a Zoldyck is so you can live peacefully like a princess you always have," Tomoe didn't comfort her, instead she stood up and walked around the room. "But, you throw it all away and walked the hard path, just because you can't handle your mother in law," Tomoe's voice became louder. The already sad girl replied her with a harsher sentence, yelling at her "She tried to kill me! She sent a man to rape me!" She stopped crying and stood up.

"What did you do to pay for Mr. Taka's debt? Did you pledge your loyalty to that woman!?" Tomoe cupped Hidako's face harshly with her long old fingers with long nails. Hidako didn't say a thing. She knew she couldn't say a thing about whatever happened in that mansion.

Her brown eyes and her furrowed brows spoke of anger and she didn't hide it. "Ohhhh ... you certainly pledged your royalty, i can't believe that everything Taka had worked for you to enter a Zoldyck family went to the drain," Tomoe let go of her hands. "And that love-bite,it's a new one, did you whore yourself out for whatever God that bitch was worshipping to pay for Taka's debt? You wouldn't have panicked if it was from Illumi-sama," Hidako didn't say a thing, she averted her gaze. That guilt crept again in her stomach. "Taka sent you into the Zoldyck family because he didn't want you to join the cult that bitch had! You have no idea what Taka had to deal with because of that bitch's cult!" Tomoe yelled at Hidako once more. "What did father Taka do?" Hidako asked. "He contracted that disease because that bitch ordered him to go to the dark side of the world," Tomoe's eyes turned into sadness. She stopped yelling. She pulled out a key out of her obi. "This is a key to the Taka's basement," Tomoe wrung out the key in front of Hidako's eyes.

The basement. Where Taka would force her to read, where he would force a black metal ball laced with stinging poison in her mouth every time she did things wrong or not beautiful enough. It was a nightmare.

"Find his diary and you'll find the truth," Tomoe ended their conversation and left the room.

*

Minamoto Residence. 2 AM.

"Welcome home, Illumi"

Illumi came home late at night. He was surprised to see that his wife was still awake, she was reading a book on the bed with her back leaning on the pillow. She was wearing soft pink night gown covered with long kimono.

"Hidako, it's rare for you to be awake at this hour," Illumi said while he slowly took off his outfit and walked to the bathroom.

"I've been calculating that ... we need to work more so we can pay for this house's bills," Hidako closed the book. She sounded more serious than usual. "Have you gotten more high-paying jobs?" Hidako asked to her husband. "I thought the debt was paid" Illumi shouted from the bathroom. "Yes, it was but the house needs to run or else we ought to fire more staffs," Hidako answered, she put the book on the table beside her bed.

"Have you gotten any high-paying jobs?" Hidako asked him once more. "Not yet," Illumi yelled back from the bathroom. Hidako felt incredibly frustrated with the house. For the first time in her life time, she experienced financial struggle. Something very foreign for both of them.

"You really need to think of something else, we can't move out of this place," Hidako said to Illumi in her frustration. The woman kept on massaging her forehead while closing her eyes.

"Why don't you charge more for your reading?" Hidako suddenly stood up. Her fist clenched and her eyes widened. "Are you nuts? I don't even have many clients these days!" She was yelling at her husband once more.

"Then just sell the house or we can come back to the Kukuroo Mountain!" He yelled back at his wife. After he was finished bathing, Illumi got out of the bathroom, his hips were only covered with towel and he quickly pushed Hidako's body to the bed. He was on top of her with his hair falling on the bed. His hands were grabbing her wrists as his dark doll eyes staring at her small brown eyes. "I'm not selling the house and i'm not coming back to Kukuroo Mountain!" Hidako screamed at her husband. Illumi subconsciously moved his hand to her neck, choking her. She was gasping for air as she was squealing with her small hand trying to push Illumi's chest. She quickly inflicted her pain to Illumi, the guy felt the suffocating feeling that she was feeling. He let go of his hand. She was coughing as she sat up on the bed.

"Are you going to choke me every time we had disagreement? Do you plan to scare me by using violence so i would fully submit to you like a doll? Why don't you just put another needle inside my head?" Hidako was still coughing, her eyes were staring right to Illumi's dark eyes, angry at him. Illumi didn't say a thing. He was hyperventilating, he shouldn't have choked her. "GET OUT FROM MY BED ROOM!" Hidako yelled at him, she never yelled that loud at him. "Hidako ...," Illumi interrupted but she screamed at him again. She started to cry and she screamed again "GET OUT!" It was followed with Illumi putting on his sleepwear and getting out of their bedroom. He slept at the guest's bedroom that night as she cried herself to sleep.

*

Forest at the outskirt of Zaban. 2 AM.

Illumi and Kalluto were burying bodies in the forest. Things Illumi had never done before, it was always his butlers doing the dirty job like diminishing the victim's body. The young boy was wearing a black kimono and the older one was wearing a green sweater and black pants with his hair styled in ponytail. Kalluto realized that since leaving the house, Illumi dressed down, he didn't wear his Hisoka-influenced outfits.

"Are you really rebelling from Father and Mother?" Illumi said while putting more dirt on the victim's body. "I don't think they know that i'm a spider now," Kalluto replied while scooping more dirt and piled it on the dead body. "Kalluto," Illumi called his brother's name, the young boy turned his head to face Illumi's face.

"I've been thinking about it, i'm joining Phantom Troupe," Illumi's words caused his brother's eyes to widened as the teen smiled.

**Author's Note: **

_Shibari_ is japanese term in art of bondage.

I'm sorry that it took me almost two weeks to write down another chapter.

Their honeymoon period kinds of fade especially when a storm called financial issue came into their life. However, next chapter will be Chrollo's story and it will feature his childhood as well.

Thank you for the comments! Please comment/review some more for they are the reasons why i keep on writing!


	22. Pretty Boy From Meteor City

**Chapter 22 : The Pretty Boy from Meteor City**

Archway Mansion. 11 PM.

It was a very luxurious bathroom that was modeled after the Fersace Haus, the owner's favorite designer. It was flashy and full of gold color.

The black haired man was staring at the mirror, observing the reflection of himself after he was done washing his face. There was still water dripping off of his chin as his skin was still wet. The man was naked and his lower part was only covered in towel.

Suddenly he punched the mirror. It broke the mirror. A big man with blue eyes appeared behind him. He was wearing a flashy Fersace kimono and shocked when he saw the younger man out of nowhere punching the mirror.

"What's wrong, my dear?" The older man rubbed the younger man's muscular arms and spoke to him softly.

The image of his dead friends came back into his mind. Kortopi and Shalnark. Murdered by that fucking clown. Their corpses were lying on a child's playground. The spade and heart were drawn with their blood on their faces, right below their eyes. Kortopi's head for was pulled off of his body, his spinal cord, muscles, fat were exposed and blood was splattered all around the kid's playground. A terrifying scene featuring a body and a separate head, and a blond man's body being birds' food. What kind of sick man would do that? Why did he do it? Was it because he lost? Was it because he wanted another match?

"You shouldn't have asked me to fight that clown at the first place," Chrollo didn't even look at the blue eyed man. He continued washing the blood off of his hands.

"I made a promise to that young woman, i couldn't just break that promise after what she had shown me," Christian explained to Chrollo with his hands moving. Chrollo's face didn't change, his eyebrows furrowed, he was still pissed. He left Christian in the bathroom while he was walking towards the bed.

"You should get your wound treated or they'll leave a scar," Christian took out a tube of ointment out of the cabinet in the bathroom and threw it on the bed. Chrollo ignored that, he just gazed at Christian's eyes before diverting his eyes to the tv that featured politic news.

Christian suddenly pinned down Chrollo's body to the bed, the man was certainly bigger than Chrollo, both of his hands were pinning down his wrists. The younger man was staring at his eyes not with usual gentle look, there was anger in his grey doe eyes. Chrollo didn't fight the man off, he was an enhancer, a powerful one. It would be dumb to fight him in a fist fight.

Still with Christian's hands on Chrollo's wrists and his hairy legs pinning down Chrollo's pale legs, the older man pulled Chrollo's towel with his mouth, exposing the younger man's crotch.

"I'll be the one ramming you tonight, pretty boy," Christian then followed by hungrily bit the younger man's neck and trailed kisses all over his body before entering him that night.

Chrollo didn't say anything. He didn't even react. It's like all his system was turned off, like a robot. No pain. No pleasure. Nothing. He was drowning in his grief. He just lost two of his legs.

Chrollo remembered he met Kortopi in Meteor City. He was harshly bullied by other children in Meteor City, he was short and weak. He was a kind boy despite his odd exterior. Chrollo remembered how eager Kortopi was in learning nen with Chrollo. The boy excelled in conjuring copies. He's not a fighter but he's the kindest soul in the Troupe. To have him killed for "fun" sickened Chrollo to the stomach.

Shalnark. That smart man. It was an advantage to have Shalnark as a member of the Troupe. He was always cool-headed and he almost always knew what would happen and he always had backups. Chrollo grew closer to Shalnark, he was one of the first members. He was the boy from the same orphanage with Chrollo. He was also chosen to learn nen but never got picked by any man. He considered that being lucky, he could not imagine having abusive parents. He's free and he's a happy man. But, Hisoka outdoned Shalnark. That fucking monster! No one had expected that coming, including the smart Shalnark.

*

While Christian was on top of him, spreading his legs, fucking him and enjoying his body. Chrollo's mind drifted off to the memory of his childhood.

The boy was a mere nine years old boy with pale skin, dark hair and grey eyes. He stood out among his friends for looking different, he had Azian colors and Yordian features.

He grew up as an orphan, in a slum of Meteor City. He never knew who his mother or father were, the man who took care of the orphan said that Chrollo was dropped as a baby in front of the orphan.

He was always a charming person, leader. Kids would follow him, even if it was for his stories and with his gentle demeanor, the adults loved him. He was everyone's favorite.

Chrollo never forgot that day when a woman with porcelain skin and blonde hair visited the orphanage. It was a hot day and it wasn't as windy as usual. The orphanage was located at the outskirt of the city where there would still be green to be seen, not only desert and dust around. She came out of her white car wearing a red suit along with men in black suits guarding her. She definitely did not look like someone from Meteor City.

"That's Miss Ecaterina, if you want a good life, you should be able to make her pick you," the orphan keeper, a balding old man who had taken care of Chrollo since he was a baby whispered to him.

Kids quickly swarmed all around Ecaterina. The guards were guarding her while they were giving the kids candies and shooing them away.

Chrollo took an initiative, he quickly went to the nearest tree from the woman and climbed it. He quickly shouted "Miss Ecaterina!" It caught Ecaterina's attention. Their eyes met. She was smirking when she saw the child. A half-Azian half-Yordian child, the child who would definitely grow good-looking with the right nutrition.

That day, Ecaterina didn't take Chrollo with her to wherever she came from. But, she called for him to the private room of the orphanage. There she was, sitting on the big chair, crossing her legs. The bald orphanage head was sitting across her.

"What's your name, little boy?" Ecaterina smirked at the sight of the child. "Chrollo, Miss Ecaterina," The boy walked forward, slow, and anxious. "It's madame Ecaterina now," Ecaterina chuckled, Chrollo couldn't let her eyes off of Ecaterina's dark red eyes. "Poor boy, let me teach you how to survive during my stay here, i'm sure you will be the one of those who can change the world," Ecaterina rubbed the boy's soft black strands.

"You will teach this boy nen," her dark red eyes were gleaming in enthusiasm as she spoke to the head of the orphanage.

_Nen_. The thing that certainly changes the boy and the city.

Chrollo realized that only the chosen kids who were able to learn nen and he was one of them.

Ecaterina came to the orphanage once every year. She always took some of the kids, always the older ones. Chrollo always waited for the day when Ecaterina would scout him and take him away from Meteor City. He waited and waited but the day never came for him to be picked by Ecaterina.

When Chrollo was a teenager, he created a group called Phantom Troupe, with the philosophy of a spider. It consisted his friends in Meteor City, including those who grew up with him in the orphanage.

It was the same year, Christian Archway appeared in front of him. The dashing Yordian man recruited him to be one of his men. He was certainly beloved by Christian and when Ecaterina knew that Chrollo was a part of the Archway cronies, she called him to the temple.

It was the same room where they used to judge everyone who wanted to join the Yulla religion. Ecaterina was sitting there on the chair with two guards, guarding her. Archway brought the boy to Ecaterina, presenting that fifteen years old boy to her, a fifteen years old boy with short hair and pretty face.

"I've been waiting for you," She grinned when she saw Chrollo. He had grown up. Just as she thought he would be, a handsome young man. Chrollo had always dreamed of that moment, to be recruited by Ecaterina Credence, the wife of the deceased Julio Credence, one of the richest men in the world, the man who built shrine of Yulla.

"Can you show me your ability, pretty boy?" Ecaterina asked him, with the same grin in her face. Her red eyes were fixated to Chrollo's. The young boy suddenly opened a book and he displayed two huge white fish dancing in the room. The presence is haunting and she was watching them in awe. "What can those fish do?" She asked the young boy. Chrollo quickly made the fish try to attack the guard, it bit and chewed a small part of the guard's arm but the guard didn't scream. He just stood there trying to destroy the fish but he couldn't. "Could you please stop these fish from hurting my guard?" She asked him politely. Chrollo closed the book and the fish disappeared. The guards were screaming in pain with blood pouring out of their inexistent parts of their arms. They were quickly rushed out of the room, seeking for help.

"Well, well, i see that you really had grown up being a very strong pretty boy. Now, i have a proposition for you, boy," Ecaterina was impressed. That day, Chrollo was baptized, he became a follower of Yulla, just like Christian Archway.

*

Chrollo didn't enjoy it at all that night. He just turned into a doll, with his doe eyes gazing at the older man on top of him who was moaning his name with his eyes closed.

It wasn't always like that. He mostly enjoyed having sex with Christian but that night, he didn't enjoy it. He just lost his (spider) legs.

Sawa. Her face came back to his mind. A girl older than Chrollo by three years. She was an orphan, just like him, half Yordian, half Azian, just like him, with soft light brown strands on her head that fell on her shoulder and hazel eyes, along with small pouty lips, the girl was a beautiful girl. Sawa liked to braid her hair into two tails of braids and then she pulled the end of the hair and secured it on top with two ribbons. She loved wearing what seemingly looked like an Azian girl's school girl outfit in brown color, a mini brown pleated skirt and a white shirt along with mustard yellow socks and brown oxford on her feet. Behind her innocent face, she was an assassin.

Instead of the bald old man, it was Sawa who trained Chrollo nen. Her calloused hands guided him through the water divination test. She was a conjurer, she was a lot like Franklin but a lot more sophisticated, she could conjure guns with various bullets, her favorite one was the explosive bullet. The bullet would explode when it entered the target's body, it was like ingesting a grenade for the target.

She was his mentor, his first kiss, his first time, his first love. Sawa was the bald old man's bedwarmer, he was really angry when he found out that Sawa was dating Chrollo. He killed the young girl, in front of Chrollo. He made the young boy watched as he raped the young girl from her back and snapped her head. The cracking voice destroyed Chrollo's heart. That was the time where he killed everyone in that room and used his first ability which he had stolen during one of the missions he was doing with Sawa, the indoor fish. They were all killed in that basement, only Chrollo left the basement alive. He walked out of the basement while carrying Sawa's naked body in his arm.

*

"Chrollo!You always feel so good ..." Archway came inside the younger man, his hot white liquid was pouring inside Chrollo's body. The guy was limp afterward, he then fell on the bed, right beside the doe eyed man.

"I don't want you to fuck anyone except me," Archway was gasping as he was eyeing the man beside him. "Huh?" Chrollo gazed back at the older man, he came back gazing at those cerulean blue eyes. "I don't want you to just nod to whatever Ecaterina asks you to do," Christian looked angry, he cupped Chrollo's face and kissed his lips once more. So, Christian knew. "You're my lover, _mine_ only," Christian said with his piercing blue eyes staring into Chrollo. He was his lover after all, more than just a toy or a subordinate, a lover.

*

Shrine of Yulla. 11 PM.

It was a huge mansion in white color, when he walked inside the mansion, he saw a hall with so many doors that led to bigger space in the house. There were men and women with model-esque bodies walking almost nude with masks on their faces, the same Vinetian mask Illumi and Kalluto were wearing except that they had cross sign in the middle of the mask's. Those nude model-esque humans wore nothing but black thongs that completely showed their but cheeks and exposed their long legs.

The room got even spacier as he walked through the room, when they reached the ballroom, there was a woman who didn't wear mask. She was wearing a red cape with hood. Her hair was long and blonde, her eyes were red as blood, her skin was as pale as the snow. She was smirking when her eyes and Illumi's eyes locked. Surrounding her, there were people wearing Vinetian masks and capes, concealing their identities with those apparels.

"That's Ecaterina Credence, the leader of this place," Kalluto whispered to Illumi. The name Credence rang a bell. Ah! It was the one Hidako was asking help from!

"Ladies and gentlemen, i, the priestess of Yulla will now begin our ceremony," The woman knocked her golden staff to the floor. The music started, there were musicians at the edge of the room, there were harpist, organist, violinist and few singers. All of them were wearing red capes, just like the priestess. The song sounded like something that came from renaissance era. It was haunting.

The nude model-esque people were making a circle as they threw half of their lower part of the masks away. The priestess stared by taking a big strawberry out of a golden cup. Fresh strawberry still wet with water pouring from it. She then put it inside the mouth of the nude girl with blonde hair beside her. The nude blonde girl then used her mouth to transfer it to the nude man with black hair beside her. They kept on moving the strawberry until it ended at the man beside the priestess. He ate the fruit. Munching the fruit.

"The Goddess Yulla have blessed us with prosperity! May the ceremony begin!" The Priestess shouted.

The nude people were all screaming, making weird noise, as if there were another beings inside their bodies.

"They're the temple prostitutes, Chrollo said that they're speaking in tongue," Kalluto whispered to his brother.

It happened for three minutes. The temple prostitutes then left their formation and all spread to different rooms. Kalluto pulled Illumi's hand and walked to one of the rooms.

Illumi could see a room with a lot of huge long sofas. He could see humans in their carnal desire. A man with suit wearing everything unclasping his pants and penetrated the temple prostitute with blonde hair. Both of them were panting. Another man put his shaft inside the prostitute's anus. There were few men who gangbanged a temple prostitute together. The sight of a the temple prostitute who was gangbanged piqued him. An Azian woman with frail body, with long black hair was sucking a man's shaft while letting another man penetrating her with her two hands stroking men's shafts. She looked a lot like his wife. A sense of discomfort was roaming inside his belly and the image of his wife getting gangbanged by a group of strangers suffocated him. Her long fingers stroking those men's shafts, her small lips sucking that shaft and her moaning while a stranger penetrating her, stressed him.

"Brother! This way!" Kalluto distracted his attention from that dark haired temple prostitute as he pulled his brother's hand and guided him to another room with red door.

Kalluto knocked the door four times before he opened the door. When they entered the door, turned out that it was a lift. They walked inside the room, standing there in the middle of it as it went down.

When they reached the basement, it was a huge dark room with stone wall, with chandeliers and a huge golden spider on the edge of the ceiling. It was like a dracula's castle.

Suddenly Kalluto and Illumi could hear an organ being played. A soft renaissance tune. When they found the source of the sound, they saw the boss of the Troupe, wearing a black vest on top of a white shirt with his hair pushed back playing the organ. It was an old organ with big pipes on top of it, like the one in catholic church.

"Boss!" Kalluto suddenly took off his mask, and Illumi followed him to take off his mask. Chrollo stopped playing the organ. Chrollo snapped his fingers and all the lights turned on. There were all of the Troupe members except Koltropi and Shalnark.

"Good evening, Mr. Illumi Zoldyck," Chrollo stood up and looked at Illumi with a grin on his face.

*

Author's Note :

I'd like to apologize if the sex scenes are too disturbing.

HxH belongs to Togashi, not me.


	23. Reconciliation

**Chapter 23 : Reconciliation**

That night, Hidako let Illumi sleep in their bedroom again. Her husband came home late. Hidako was already sitting on the bed, reading an old translated Gorteau literature with a red dragon on the cover. She was leaning on the bed while wearing a soft silk kimono in soft pink. Her hair was being let down, straight and black.

"Welcome home," Her eyes were locked to her husband's physique. He was full of bruises and cuts. Why does he look like he just came back from a harsh mission?

Illumi didn't say a thing, the man rushed to the bathroom and cleaned himself. Hidako continued reading the book while wearing for her husband to come back to the bed.

Her husband was wearing a thin cotton kimono in grey and when he sat on the bed, Hidako could see a fresh tattoo peeking out of his kimono on the neck area, a black tattoo with skin still red under it.

Hidako put the book aside to the desk and moved closer to her husband, her warm finger was tracing his tattoo. Illumi grabbed her hand immediately before letting it go and turned back to his wife.

"What is that? I thought you're not into tattoo," Hidako sounded unsuspecting towards her husband.

Illumi loosened down his kimono, exposing a spider tattoo with a number in the middle of it. The tattoo was surrounded with swelling redness, indicating that the tattoo was fresh.

Hidako knew what it was. A fucking Phantom Troupe tattoo. Chrollo's face his darn pretty face with doe eyes came back to her mind.

Her jaw dropped, her mouth was wide opened. She immediately covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes were staring on the tattoo in disbelief.

"Is this real?" She asked in her own denial, with her fingers still tracing the fresh tattoo with redness surrounding it on his neck extending to his back. She knew it's real, she's just in huge denial.

"Yes," Illumi touched his wife's warm fingers with his cold hand. His eyes were gazing at Hidako's small brown eyes.

Fuck. Now, both of them are part of the Credence cronies. 

"We certainly don't have to worry about money anymore," Illumi turned his body to face Hidako's. He didn't bother pulling his kimono up, instead, he pushed his wife (whose face still showed how shocked she was) down until she was leaning on her back.

His hair mostly fell on the right side of her face, his hand travelled inside her kimono, caressing her small breast as his lips were kissing hers. Hidako didn't react and it wasn't because the image of her dead fetus coming into her mind, it was because her mind was occupied with the thoughts of the future of being Credence cronies.

She knew exactly it wouldn't make any good to be angry at her husband since she's the one who fell into the Credence trap in the first place, lured by the same pretty boy with those grey bambi eyes.

"Are we going to be alright?" She broke the kiss, her eyes were gazing deep into Illumi's dark doll eyes.

"We will be alright," Illumi said while caressing Hidako's soft long hair and continued kissing her lips. He pushed his wife's outfit, exposing her nakedness in front of him. She kissed him back while also taking off his outfit.

Both of them were naked and Hidako spread her legs. Her mind was no longer occupied by her dead fetus. Her mind was occupied by how would their life become. But, she concealed it. She let her husband penetrate her, rocking his hips and his erection inside of her on top of her.

And somehow the pretty boy with doe eyes came into her mind. Why was he so hypnotizing? Hidako had to admit that she enjoyed having sex with him.

It shouldn't hurt just to imagine that moment she had with him. She thought.

She closed her eyes while imagining that man with those mesmerizing grey eyes. Those big grey doe eyes, that skin under the pale moonlight, those full lips kissing every inch of her body and when he batted those lashes while he's going down on her. She was drenched.

Illumi then pulled her hips, digging his fingers in her skin while rocking his hips harder. He was rougher than usual and she moaning non-stop, enjoying the sensation it caused. Illumi felt even more aroused when he saw his wife moaning and enjoying the sex. He fell on top of her and rocking his hips faster.

Both of them came at the same time with his sperm inside of hers. Once Illumi fell on his back beside her, she suddenly felt nauseous. She quickly stood up and ran to the bathroom to vomit on the toilet.

"Hidako, are you alright?" Illumi walked to the bathroom to rub his wife's naked back.

"I'm okay ... it's just i haven't orgasmed for a long time," Hidako answered while she was lightly smiling to her husband. She lied. It was her bodily response for feeling guilty of imagining another man while fucking her own husband.

*

Shrine of Yulla was fascinating, it looked luxurious, it had beautiful people catering to the guests' needs, the foods were awesome. It wasn't like a shrine, it was like a huge party.

It also catered into human's instinct, sex. Any of the followers could pick any of the sexy servers to have sex with them. It's like a luxurious brothel.

Hidako was also one of those who provided the show, but not with her body. It was with her nen. She was sitting on the stage, wearing a red kimono with hair styled up and her face was covered with a kitsune mask. There were a small group of men in suit with their faces covered with Vinetian masks and naked modelesque women in their arms. Hidako's task was to feed their sexual fantasy.

The men put the requests in pieces of papers. It was Hidako's task to fulfill their fantasies. There were four men there, Hidako could see nothing but their asses and their penises. Hidako changed the surrounding into what the men had asked, a forest of pine trees. Weird, she thought. They were people who were into bestiality but had no guts in fucking the real animals. That disgusted Hidako, she could feel nausea forming in her stomach but she had to contain her feeling, she kept on projecting it. The smell of pine trees filled the room as they were fucking the women. The women were transformed into a half-lioness, a half-monkey, a half-Labrador and a half-goat. They became hard and they were penetrating the women, Hidako felt the most disgusted towards the man who was fucking the monkey, she couldn't project the screaming voice of a monkey properly. The screaming was slurred, slowly it was mixing with the voice of the woman he was fucking. Never in her mind, Hidako had to deal with projecting bestiality.

His dick went limp immediately. "Hey! Can you project this or not?" The man was yelling towards Hidako. Suddenly, the projection stopped. No more pine trees, no more the scent of it and the "animals" had turned into human women. Hidako pulled lower half of her mask and puked in front of them. Her vomit wet the wooden floor.

"I'm going to report this to Ms. Credence," One of the man said, while pulling up his pants, followed with the others. "Tch! You made my dick limp! I can't believe Ms Credence hired someone like you!" The other man said while leaving the room.

Hidako's shoulder relaxed (or more like hunched). The girl had just fucked up in her reading. She hadn't fucked up in her reading for a very very long time. The possibility of having her facilities being pulled back and the possibility of having Crendence to kill her went up.

"Mister, let me make up my apology to you," Hidako bowed down and apologized.

"I can't just harden my dick easily! You really made me lost the moment!" The man yelled back at Hidako, he quickly stormed off of the room, followed by another men. Hidako quickly got down from the stage and chased them before one of the pushed her away, causing the girl to fall down.

They were reporting it to Mrs. Credence and Hidako was sent to the Mrs. Credence's private room.

*

In Credence's Private Room, it was like a deja vu. The same Phantom Troupe members were standing there beside Mrs. Credence.

Hidako took off her kitsune mask. She could feel lump in her throat. Hidako walked slowly, dragging her geta to get closer to the woman who was sitting on her "throne".

"Seems like Taka had never taught you about projecting odd matters, certainly he didn't prepare you well," Ecaterina chuckled. She stood up and walked down to Hidako. Ecaterina grabbed Hidako's chin and pulled her face closer to hers. Observing her small Azian face, her dark brown eyes.

"Why don't you come with us to Watasato Kingdom, my dear Hidako?" The word sent chills down Hidako's spine. Her lips were quivering and her hands were shaking. The kingdom was taken by a usurper. How could she even come back there? Her memory traveled back to the night where the chaos happened. The aircon was cold but Hidako couldn't help it. Sweat was forming on the back of her neck and her palms.

"I can give you a lot of wealth , perhaps wealth that can buy you a kingdom as long you open that golden box in the basement," Ecaterina's gaze was alluring. As if she was challenging her. The box was a family treasure that hadn't been opened for such a long time. Hidako didn't even know what was inside the box. She tilted her head and she certainly looked confused.

"What do you mean?" Hidako started to feel fear. Ecaterina's gaze was fierce and strong. Like a snake that could eat her anytime.

"You're a princess of that old kingdom," Hidako flinched when she heard that. Her hands started to feel shaky. She was scared. She didn't want to come back to that place.

"You will go with us to open that golden box using whatever genetic ability you have to open that golden box in the kingdom's basement," Ecaterina smirked.

*

**Author's Note :**

It's been forever since the last time i wrote this fic. The whole last princess thing may seem to be a little trope-y and cliche but i will try to make it not-cliche.

Thank you for the comments! I thought nobody (still) read this fic. Please comment if you want me to continue writing this fic.


	24. (Un)happy Marriage

**Chapter 24 : (Un)Happy Marriage**

Minamoto Residence. 8 AM.

A dark haired woman was waiting in the bathroom with a test pack in front of her lying on the table. Slowly, it showed a positive sign.

Illumi who was combing his hair was surprised to hear his wife squealing in happiness. He immediately walked inside the bathroom.

"Illumi, i'm pregnant!" Her eyes were teary. She hugged her husband who still had a comb in his hand. He didn't say anything, he just hugged her back with a faint smile in his face.

It didn't take long for Hidako to get pregnant after she could resume having sex with Illumi. It only took her 2 months to get pregnant with Illumi. They had sex everyday, and in every each of it, it was Chrollo's physique that came into her mind.

"You're going to stay inside the house until the baby is born," Illumi commanded to her. He didn't want to lose another child.

"But, i have to read," she begged. Her mind suddenly traveled into Shrine of Yulla. She had no idea what Ecaterina Credence would do to her if she agreed to what Illumi had asked her for.

"You can read inside the house," Illumi said.

"But, Mrs. Credence will never allow me to do it!" Her pitch went higher. Illumi always hated it whenever she sounded like she was yelling at him. His hand was quickly located on her neck, almost straining her again.

"You will submit to me and only _me_," He was staring at her with those dark creepy orbs.

"Illumi... you scared me," His grip was light, it only touched her neck, it didn't hurt her at all. But, it was his stare. They felt cold and terrifying.

"Good, that means you know that you must follow my order," he replied before letting of his grip. His stare was cold. He's a cold man but he was a lot colder.

"Illumi!" Hidako yelled at him. "I can't go against Mrs. Credence!" Hidako pulled the hem of his shirt. "You're married to _me_, not Mrs. Credence," Illumi raised his voice. "You will follow your husband's order, not Mrs. Credence's," He was glaring at her. He couldn't stand a woman who talked back to him. Then he left.

Hidako was crying alone, she was throwing herself on the soft bed, like a damsel in old movies. After Illumi, all she experienced was pain. His family's crazy, her mother in law ordered a man to rape her, and she killed her baby as well, and then Hidako was bankrupted and her husband was very controlling towards her. Perhaps things would've been different if he chose a regular man, or maybe even an old rich man. She wouldn't have to deal with all those problems. She wouldn't have to deal with miscarriage and financial issue, she even had to whore herself out in order to live by sleeping with Chrollo damn Lucilfer to please Mrs Credence.

It felt like her life was descending, not ascending. Sure, Zoldyck mansion was a hell hole but having such financial issue and trapped with the Credence cronies surely gave her severe headache.

But, Hidako was always a submissive woman. When she saw Illumi being angry over her, she knew that she couldn't fight Illumi, especially over things so understandable, her and their child's well being. Illumi wouldn't want to experience another miscarriage happening to his wife.

So, she stayed.

*****

Minamoto Residence. 11 PM.

Hidako didn't know if it were the hormones or she was just being abnormally aroused during her first month of pregnancy. She did threw up every single morning but at night, she craved for her husband's body. It was no longer Chrollo that came into her fantasy when she was pregnant, it was Illumi, her baby daddy.

That night, her husband came home to her. When she entered their bedroom, Hidako immediately helped Illumi in undressing himself. His body smelled like iron and blood with bruises and cuts on his skin.

"How was the mission?" She asked in her flirty tone. "It was harder than i thought, our target was a nen user, a specialist, so we had to fight him in smarter ways," Illumi explained. After she was done undressing him, Hidako turned on the water at the tub. She checked with her hands if they were warm enough and she filled the tub with water.

"I want to bathe with you," Hidako said after kissing her husband's lips. "You're awfully attentive today," Illumi said. Hidako smiled. She slowly took off her robe and exposed her naked body. She then entered the box while waiting for the tub to be filled and said "Come, i'll scrub you."

Illumi followed her and entered the box. Hidako started by wetting his hair and poured some sakura smelling shampoo, Illumi's favorite, when she was done with washing her hair. She slathered a hair conditioner on his and clip his hair up. She then used a liquid soap to lather on Illumi's body before washing it along with the hair conditioner. After they were done, Hidako pulled Illumi's hand so they could dip in the tub together with clean bodies.

They were both in the calming warm water, facing each other's faces. Illumi dipped his body even deeper until the water touched his chin. Usually, Illumi would initiate some sexual act but he didn't. So, Hidako did. She moved closer to Illumi and kissed him, she also tried to stroke his private but instead of being welcomed by his kiss, he grabbed her hand and pushed her away.

"We are not going to fuck unless that baby is born already," Illumi said, his big black eyes were glaring at Hidako. The woman was disappointed. "The doctor told me that it should be fine to have sex," Hidako defended herself. "I'm not taking any chances that could kill my child," Illumi said to his wife, he wasn't playing around and she could sense it in his tone. Hidako stayed quiet, she knew that she couldn't fight Illumi, it would result in him doing unthinkable stuff to her. With annoyance in her face, she pulled her hand and went out of the tub. She didn't even say a thing, she just dried herself up, put on a sleepwear and immediately slept on the bed.

As much as she loved her child, she thought that during this pregnancy, her husband was acting irrationally. The doctor clearly stated that it was safe to have sex during pregnancy, but Illumi just wouldn't listen. When she thought that the pregnancy would save her marriage, she was wrong.

Illumi's obsession with his baby didn't stop with just not wanting to have sex with his wife. He planned his wife's meals and checked whether Hidako ate them or not. He also asked the maids to make her weird herbal drinks that tasted weirder than anything that Hidako had ever ingested in her life.

She disliked all the obsession towards the health of hers and her baby but she grew to understand that her husband surely loved their baby, perhaps more than his own life.

*****

Basement Floor. Minamoto Residence. 9 AM.

It was not dusty at all and it was obvious Tomoe always cleaned up the room thoroughly. Hidako had not came down to the basement for years. It was more of a torture room for her when she was a child rather than a lovely library.

There was a big dead octopus in a water(of chloroform) tank in the middle of the room with a painting of a woman being penetrated by an octopus' tentacles hanging on the wall. Pervert old man.

There were also the three black poisonous bells that were hanging on the wall, reminded her how he used to ask Hidako to put it in her mouth every time she made a mistake. She still remembered how disgusting it felt on her tongue and how during her earlier days, she would faint do to the poison on the bells.

There were a lot of racks with various books. From old literature to book about poison and alchemy. He was a very knowledgable man.

And then there was his diary. A brown old book with a lock that couldn't be opened even by force. Hidako thought that nen could open it, so she tried. She held the book with both of her hands and emitted her nen, the lock was immediately opened.

The book was filled with mundane daily matters, until she found a page about The Shrine of Yulla. On top of the page, there was her name "_For my beloved daughter, Hidako_" . It was the basic rules written there.

_Do not speak or let anyone know about Shrine of Yulla. _

There was also the story of his contract with Ecaterina Credence.

_If_ _you're reading this, i would be dead already. I would only share this information after i'm dead. The book would stay close unless i'm dead. _

_Ecaterina Credence is a woman with many resources. She made her own religion and people are following her because she's a rich heiress of The Nemkova family and a wife of Gabriel Credence, a very rich man as well who owned a lot of business. She had all the access in the world, she's the queen of the underground world._

_But, she's like a satan herself. She would come in desperate time using her followers and offer the thing people can't resist, money, power and fame. In exchange, she would command them to be her subject and she would ask them to do even the most unthinkable things in life for her own benefit. Those who refused to do her wish would be dead, either slowly or quickly. _

_If you ended up making a deal with Ecaterina, she would probably ask you to go back to the Kingdom to open the jade box that contained the Kingdom's secret, your mother told me that it contained weapons that could have an effect of mass destruction and the box could only be opened by a family member. But, you shall never agree to her request! Ecaterina is not a good woman and opening that box could lead to chaos! She would use you for her own gain._

_Be careful, my daughter. _

_I love you,_

_Takashi._

The whole letter gave her suspicion towards Ecaterina. But, she signed a contract with Ecaterina already and she agreed to Ecaterina's request. The fact sent shiver to her whole body, her heart felt like it was going to hammer out of her chest and she felt like she was going to throw up.

Tears came out of her eyes. All the things Illumi had done to keep her and the baby healthy would be for nothing if she were to be killed by Credence.

So, she did what Taka did. She wrote a letter to Illumi about Mrs. Credence and what could possibly happen to her and she told Tomoe about the letter, if anything happened to her, Illumi should find a rose pink colored letter in a brown envelope. She sealed it with nen and kept the letter hidden in the basement.

*

Bedroom. 2 AM.

A month went by and Hidako felt grateful that none of the Credence crony came into her house. But, the fear never disappeared, it was always there, even when she's asleep with her husband beside her.

But, that night, her fear came true. She was sleeping alone in her bed. Suddenly, she woke up due to unusual smell of rose filling in her room. Hidako immediately covered her mouth and opened the window. But, before she could escape from the window, a man appeared behind her and put a chloroform soaked bag to cover her head and made her fainted.

*****

When Illumi came back to the Minamoto residence, all he saw was an opened window with wind blowing the curtain with no Hidako inside their bedroom. He could sense that there was something wrong with the situation.

He walked outside and looked for Tomoe. In one of their halls, he could see the fainted old woman lying on the wooden hallway. Her hair was unruly and she was already wearing her house furisode. Illumi squatted and woke Tomoe up. "Tomoe-san, where is Hidako?" Illumi asked her after she woke up. She then sat up while looking at Illumi with horror, her hands clenched his shoulder "Hidako! Hidako! Did that man take Lady Hidako away?" Tomoe was hysterical. "Hidako is not inside our bedroom," Illumi said. "That man must have taken her away!" Tomoe said. "Calm down, Tomoe! What man? What happened?" Illumi asked. Tomoe "I remember there was a man who was running on the hallway, he was a tall man with black hair wearing all black, when i threw my shuriken to him, he dodged it and then he was so fast, from my back he hit me until i fainted!" Tomoe was panicking. "Please, Illumi-sama! Please! Please don't let that man take Lady Hidako away!" Tomoe pleaded to Illumi. "What man, Tomoe?" Illumi asked her again. "I don't see his face but it must be Credence's man! Hidako hadn't read for Credence for a month now! He must have taken her to Credence's place!" Tomoe started to cry.

_Credence?_ Illumi knew that name very well. He certainly wouldn't stay still if it was her who took his wife away.

Credence Household. 2 AM.

It was raining heavily that night. Thunderbolts and lightning were roaming in the sky. Ecaterina was awaken by shadow of a man with needles on his face, wearing a green circus outfit. She quickly turned on the light inside the room.

The woman was still wearing her red silk robe with fur ends, sitting on the bed. Her platinum blonde hair was long and straight. Her red eyes were squinting at the sight of the man. She smirked. She knew who the man was.

"What do you want, Illumi?" Despite him disguising himself in Gittarackur shape, she knew it was Illumi. She had learned how to read a man's nen after all. No matter what disguise it took, she knew whose nen it was.

Illumi transformed into his usual self. He radiated bloodlust with needles in his fingers. "Where is my wife?" His eyes were frightening but they didn't frighten Ecaterina. Ecaterina's smile grew wider, almost creepy.

She slipped her feet into her fur sandals while staring at Illumi with her red eyes. "Your wife? Hidako you mean?" His bloodlust grew slightly bigger than it was. "Oh! I heard that she ran away with Chrollo!" Illumi threw a needle at her but she dodged it. "Oh! It seems like you never knew that your seemingly innocent little wife actually had an affair with Chrollo," She smirked while jumping closer to Illumi's side. She was fast, her hand grabbed Illumi's hand that held the needles and her grip was strong. "He fucked her hard and she loved every single second of it," She whispered to his ear. Illumi immediately threw another needles to the blond woman but she always managed to dodge it. "I don't trust a sly fox like you," Illumi said.

"Do you want to see the proof?" She chuckled. The woman then turned on the tv using the remote. She quickly chose a file from the usb that's already connected to the tv. The file's name was all number. She clicked the play button.

There it was the video playing, she quickly put the arrow in the middle of the video. A room with moonlight bathing two people inside it. Both of them were naked. She was on top of him, moaning, enjoying being fucked by the man while he was thrusting his dick inside her from below. Illumi couldn't believe what he had seen. It was the innocent Hidako, the girl whose virginity he had taken, his pure wife, enjoyed getting fucked by a man who isn't him, riding him like a slut.

Ecaterina was wickedly laughing at the sight of the angry husband. "You should know that your pretty little wife isn't as innocent as she looks like," she whispered while leaving the man incredibly shocked and angry at the sight in front of him.

*

Flight to Watasato Kingdom. Blimp no. 761.

It was night and the light from outside the blimp was blinking. The blimp was flying to Watasato. Inside the blimp, there were men and women, all of them were followers of Yulla.

A woman with a blue sleeping kimono was lying on the sofa, unconscious. It was an expensive private blimp, owned by Credence Corps themselves.

"I can't believe we have to deal with a Zoldyck again," Feitan scoffed. There were Machi, Chrollo, Feitan and an another woman, Mirabelle. Mirabelle is a petite woman in her forties, she's half Yordian half Azian just like Chrollo, she's one of Ecaterina Credence's bodyguard.

Slowly, the woman in blue kimono opened her eyes. Her lids were half opened since it had to adjust with the light in the blimp.

"Good evening, Lady Hidako," Chrollo appeared right in front of her. He was relaxed, he let his hair down, he was wearing beanie, black sweater and grey jeans in front of the woman. "What are you doing? Why am i here?" Hidako was shocked, she was quickly awake and she sat up immediately.

"Isn't she Illumi's wife? Where is Illumi right now? Should he be the one accompanying her to the Watasato?" Machi blurted. She was only receiving order to take her to Watasato.

When Hidako heard Watasato. She came into her own conclusion. _It's the time_. She had to open the box for Credence.

"Why did you have to kidnap me? I know that i have to go there but why did it involve breaking, entering my house, sedating me and kidnapping me?" Hidako was frantically yelling at them. They were just gazing at Hidako silently, as if they didn't even try to listen to her.

"Boss, do i need to put her to sleep again?" Mirabelle asked. "No, let's see what she knows about her old kingdom," Chrollo walked closer to her and pulled her chin closer to his face.

*

**Author's Note : **

Well, i'd like to apologize for the extra late update. I've been pretty busy lately with studying and working.

Thank you for the comments. Thank you to Dirhhennia Butterfly, Anon, Miran and Nina. I never thought that people were still reading this fic. I hope that you'd comment some more for they are the reason why i continue writing this fiction.


	25. Watasato

**Chapter 25 :** **Watasato**

Minamoto Residence. 9 AM.

Illumi was walking all over the house, collecting all of his stuff, putting them inside his black colored aluminium polycarbonate luggages. He was going to leave the mansion. He wanted to go back to his old Zoldyck mansion.

_His mother was right after all. Hidako was a slut._

Tomoe was following him everywhere, pleading him not to go. "Please, Illumi-sama, Lady Hidako is carrying your child right now," Tomoe pleaded to him, almost like crying. "Tomoe, are you sure that it's my child? I saw her fornicating with Chrollo fucking Lucilfer!" Illumi glared at Tomoe with his big black eyes. Suddenly, Tomoe fell on the wooden floor, sitting there, with her head almost touching the floor. "Illumi-sama, Lady Hidako slept with that man to save our condition, please, i beg of you to forgive her," Tomoe cried. "I believe that she enjoyed every second of it," Illumi replied Tomoe with sinister in his gaze. "Please, Illumi-sama, she must have slept with him because of someone's order so this house and the staffs could be preserved," Tomoe begged Illumi, she even touched his leg. He still stood tall while looking down the old woman. "It happened only once, the first month when she was struggling with the debt, the house would be taken away and she would be left with nothing if she didn't do it!" Tomoe begged, almost hysterically.

Illumi didn't say anything, he was looking at Tomoe with disgust in his big black eyes. He pulled his leg that was being hugged by Tomoe and grabbed his luggages.

"ILLUMI-SAMA!SHE HAD TO DO IT BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T HELP HER TO PAY THE DEBT!" Tomoe yelled at Illumi. Illumi didn't even look back when Tomoe yelled at him. He was too angry at Hidako.

He immediately walked out of the place with the Zoldyck black sedan that was already waiting in front of the mansion's gate.

* * *

Zoldyck Mansion. 2 PM.

Kikyou who was drinking tea in her garden suddenly rose up in excitement when she heard from the butlers that Illumi's coming back home.

She immediately prepared herself and prepared Illumi his favorite foods. Walking like women in victorian era in her corset and petticoat under her yellow dress, she sprinted to the house's lobby.

Eagerly waiting for greet her eldest son. When the doors were opened, she saw her eldest son, dressing in his usual sleeveless green outfit appeared in front of her. He looked really angry. Kikyou smiled when she looked at the expression on his face. She immediately clung to Illumi's arm and said to him "Oh! My eldest son! How i miss you very very much!"

But, Illumi didn't look at her with the same reaction as she was. Instead, he looked at her with disgust as he pushed her away from him until she fell on the floor. "Don't you ever forget the fact that you killed my child," he turned into this blood thirsty son, glaring at his mother with his bloodlust. "I will never forgive you, mother," He said while walking fast to his own bedroom.

* * *

Watasato Country.

It was a small country where Hidako was born. Watasato changed so much that i had become a democratic country since one of the ministers performed coup d' etat and changed the country's basis. It became a developing country. A lot had changed to the country.

The design of the buildings were modernized and a lot of places that were part of the monarchy culture were demolished. Her old palace didn't look like palace anymore. Only a smart part of it that was kept in piece.

People no longer wore the traditional kimono that were used to be worn by everyone. Though some were still wearing the traditional kimono.

"Oi, princess, it's time to wake up already," Machi tapped Hidako's shoulder. Hidako hadn't come back there since the day when Taka took her away.

She was already inside a car. She got out of the car and looked around. They were in the middle of the city.

She realized how everything had changed. She had mixed feeling about it. She missed the old Watasato, where it was so deep in its culture, the place where she was born, her childhood.

"We're not here for sightseeing, princess," Machi said while pulling her kimono's collar and put her inside the back of the car. Hidako couldn't move much. With her gyo, she could see that Machi's thread was all over her and one wrong move could result with the thread slashing her skin.

"We're going to the palace," Chrollo had changed into less flashy outfit. He was wearing a dark green sweater and a black pants with boots on. He pushed his hair back with a very strong pomade.

Near the place where they stopped, there were a ruin of her old palace. It was already ruin, and they didn't even try to renovate the place. The new government only put a memorial stone in front of the ruined palace for the people to see the history of Watasato.

When Hidako was walking closer, she saw a statue of the new era's hero in his modern outfit stabbing a sword on the previous king's heart, Hidako's father. On the memorial stone it was written that the king was a dictator.

_What a cruel person._ Hidako thought. She always remembered her father as someone she adored, someone who was always kind to her even though she's only a daughter, not his son.

Hidako hadn't even finished reading the memorial stone but Machi already pulled her string. Inflicting some pain to Hidako. The woman immediately walked to the middle of the ruin.

There were the men she saw at the House of Yulla. Some of Credence's men. They were young men with fair skin, as fair as Credence's skin. They had those clear color on their eyes. They were wearing black suit and Credence pin.

It was a temple where the members of the royalties prayed. Hidako only came there once to see her mother praying there. The statues were destroyed. There were only pillars left. In the middle of the squared shaped place, there was a crushed statue that covered most of the floor.

"Mr. Chrollo, Lady Hidako, this way please," the blondie crushed the rocks with a small hammer infused with his nen, surprisingly effective in destroying the rocks and the thick floor. Then the other blonds helped him by removing the dirt so they could see the underground door.

"Michel and Machi, you should wait outside," the blondie said with his thick Trussian accent, he had Vladimir nametag on his suit. Machi let go of her threads off of Hidako and Hidako's arm was then grabbed by Vladmir's strong big hand. Vladimir then tied Hidako's wrists with a nen-infused thick strong rope. She couldn't even move anymore.

"Mirabelle, Javier , Jonathan, Henry and Vincent, follow me" Vlamidir said to the others.

Javier then immediately opened the underground door. There was a stair there. Javier walked down first, then followed by the others.

All of the Credence's staffs turned on their flashlight, including Chrollo. It was a dusty place with lots of rats and spider web. Hidako certainly couldn't hide her disgust towards what she's seeing.

It was a dark narrow hall that they had to go through. "I wasn't the only royalty from Watasato, why didn't you take another person to be the one who opened the box?" Hidako asked out of sudden. "Shut up!" Vladimir shouted to Hidako. His voice was heavy and loud. It shocked not only the humans but also the rats.

"Chill, Vladimir, you shouldn't be that harsh to our princess here," Chrollo winked at the big man with blonde hair and grey eyes. Chrollo knew that Vladimir was a gay man who liked Azian pretty boy, like him. It shut Vladimir up.

"It was unfortunate that Mrs. Credence didn't know that there was a treasure worth more than money under the palace when the revolution took over," Chrollo explained. "It was until few years later they found a writing about it in the king's diary that was only found deep underground after ten years after the new era took over the country," Chrollo said. "My father's diary?" Not even Hidako knew about it. "Yes, there was a laminated paper using old language inside the King's diary and that paper was only seen as a normal bookmark with the kingdom's symbol but with nen, you can see the hidden message there," Chrollo answered. "Chrollo, we have arrived," it didn't take long for them to arrive at the designated place. It was surprising for Hidako to arrive that fast.

In front of them was a big round stone door with the kingdom's symbolism crafted in the middle of it. "Open it," Vladimir pushed Hidako until she fell in front of the stone, to the ground. Her knees hit the hard material on the ground and it lacerated her skin and caused it to bleed.

Hidako slowly stood up and tried to touch the door and pushed it though her legs were shaking due to her extreme fear. She tried to push it but nothing happened. "Bitch! Open it!" Vladimir yelled at Hidako. Hidako then tried to use her nen to open the door but it didn't budge too as if there was a repellent nen on the stone. Hidako then tried to push harder with her nen but instead of it being opened, her body was bouncing away from the stone, with her chest hitting Vladimir's stomach and the force was strong enough that it caused him to fall and have Hidako landed on top of him.

"The color of the raven is the color of my soul," Chrollo interrupted. It was written that in the diary. I guess it might take more than nen to open the door. "Vladimir, What is the color of the raven?" Chrollo's mesmerizing doe eyes met Vladimir's grey eyes. "Black," Vladimir answered. Both of their eyes were observing Hidako, looking at her from top to toe. It was her hair. The color of her hair. Vladimir then took out a small knife out of her pocket and cut strands of Hidako's hair, leaving her hair highly asymmetrical.

Chrollo then looked at the wall again. He traced it and found a very small opening, Chrollo then opened it, it was a small hole. He could feel certain kind of stronger nen there.

He pulled Hidako's wrist by force and put her hand inside the hole. "Release your nen," He ordered. His gaze induced fear inside of her stomach. She never saw Chrollo in that fearsome light, as if he were ready to break her wrist if she didn't comply to his wish. Hidako released her nen through the hole.

_Crack._

The stone door was opened. The man then pushed the door and saw a small room. It was a small room with stone wall and an old writing in old Wayashi. The old language they used in Watasato. Hidako knew that language but she didn't completely understand all of the words there. On the stone floor, there were few human bones.

In the middle of the room, there was a stone coffin with a smaller box made of black stone on top of it. It was obvious to all of them that it was enveloped in nen. A very foreign feeling of nen.

"Open it, princess," Vladimir pulled Hidako's arm before pushing her the stone coffin, causing her arm to hit the edge of the stone coffin, turning her skin blue.

When her skin touched the coffin, she felt goosebumps all over her body. It was cold. Very cold. It wasn't cold at all in the room.

She could feel the nen emanating from the coffin encapsulated her body. Hidako was frozen. She couldn't move. It's like the box itself told her not to open it. To shove her away from the box.

"Cold," Hidako muttered, almost inaudibly. Her body was shaking but her limbs couldn't move. "This took too much time," Vladimir in his impatience walked closer to the box and opened the small box on top of the coffin. It was filled with a ball made out of jade, when Vladimir touched it, the man's eyeball rolled back, they turned all white and the man fell on the ground. "What happened to Vladimir?" The other man was shocked when they saw fainted Vladimir. Chrollo's mouth was wide agape. He knew for sure that it must be Hidako who opened the box.

Chrollo grabbed Hidako's wrist by force and put her hand on the jade ball. Suddenly, they could feel small earthquake happening and the door which they used to enter was closed.

The other blond man who was the strongest in term of physique among them all tried to open the door but it didn't budge. The other one checked on Vladimir and he could find no pulse and no breathing.

In a minute, the big coffin was slightly opened. It exuded smell of the rare flower in her childhood, the palace's flower, Varacress. "What smell is this?" One of the men was confused.

One of them men screamed very hard with their eyes opened, as if he was seeing a monster. He took out his gun and shot the wall in front of him. In few seconds, with his mouth and his eyes wide opened he fell on the ground, skin grew paler and his pulse completely disappeared. When Hidako looked around, she could see the other men also fell on the ground with the same expression, as if they were seeing monster in front of them.

Hidako looked around once again and she saw a small black creature with black robe and no face flying on the wall. "At your service, my child" it muttered before it completely disappeared from Hidako's eyes. When she looked back, she saw Chrollo's eyes wide opened, also staring at the same spot as hers, his mouth was wide agape, as if he saw a terror in front of him. His hands were on the stone door, trying to opened it but it didn't budge.

"Mr. Lucilfer, did you see what i saw?" Hidako asked the man. He gulped his saliva and nodded. "Holy shit," he muttered.

Hidako then remembered how to read the old writing.

_The tomb of the first King of Watasato._

* * *

Underground Dungeon. The first king's tomb.

Hidako then looked around the coffin, she tried to put her hand inside the coffin and there was only bones of the first king that smelled like the flower, covered with ashes.

Hidako realized that it was the power of the old king. That could be activated by the nen of the royal blood. It was the ash that they inhaled, that caused them to hallucinate and suffocate. The ash could never affect those with royal blood. The black creature was caused by the dead king's leftover nen.

When Hidako let out of her hands, the coffin then was closed by itself, followed with the small box on top of it, that's slowly filled with some ashes of the first King.

"Now it's only the two of us left in this underground dungeon of this cursed palace," Hidako sat down and leaned on the coffin, Chrollo did the same. He sat right beside her.

"You're not dead," She commented, in confusion. Only those with the royal blood who will survive. She remembered every bit of the script from the basement.

"Who were your parents?" Hidako moved closer and asked the grey eyed hunk. "My parents? I was an orphan, i know nothing about them," Chrollo answered.

"That's impossible," Hidako's pupils were dilated, she was looking at Chrollo with bewilderment in her eyes.

_Only those with royal blood who will survive._

"The kingdom made sure to kill every single bastard," She muttered to herself, in a very soft voice. In voice Chrollo himself couldn't hear. She then giggled.

_Those stupid soldiers certainly missed a bastard._

"You're one of those bastards!" Hidako pointed her finger to him. She sighed.

"What do you mean?" Chrollo asked. He was gulping more saliva. He spent all of his life questioning his identity and somehow there's a woman opening that to him.

"When i was a child, i had an uncle named Seiji, he wasn't a handsome man, he's fat and he had a nose like a pig ... he was also very pale who made him a joke amongst my other uncles, we all know what his hobby was, it was going to brothel, the Kingdom had killed more than twenty babies thanks to his hobby," Hidako explained. Her brown eyes met his grey eyes. "I guess you are one of his bastards, your Yordian mother perhaps sent you to Meteor City to save you," She added. She stopped talking when she saw Chrollo's expression, the man was looking at her with awe. Those doe eyes were gleaming in curiosity.

"Well ... you certainly got his pale skin though," Hidako snorted. "Now that i know that we are related, it is kind of uncomfortable to think that we once fucked before," Chrollo giggled. "Actually it is not uncommon for our people to marry their family member," Hidako explained. "My father, the late King married my mother who's his cousin, and my grandparents were also cousins," She added while adjusting the way she's seating. "That perhaps explained why it was known for the public that some of the kings were lunatics ... including the late king," Chrollo said. Hidako said nothing.

She wasn't close with her father and all she remembered was him being a kind father to her. But, she knew all the rumor about him taking pleasure in beating people up, how he often came to underground prison to personally perform torture to the prisoners while laughing ecstatically. Also how he could upgrade someone's crime(by any means) just so he could put them in the underground prison. Chrollo wasn't wrong when he said that.

It was few hours already. Both of them had tried to open the stone door but it wasn't opened. They used nen too but it didn't budge at all.

They both sat again leaning to the coffin. "Will we die here?" Hidako asked, in depressing manner. "No, we won't, Machi will surely question why we're still inside for a very long time and she'll find some help," Chrollo said.

"What will you do with your newfound power?" Chrollo asked Hidako, he was gazing at the lady.

"I don't want to deal with this whole thing honestly, i just want to raise my child in peace," Hidako replied with her hand touching her belly. "What do you want to do if we manage to get out of here?" She asked him back.

"I want to kill Christian Archway," Hidako could feel changes in his aura. "I thought that you were his _beloved_ boyfriend," Hidako sighed.

"You have no idea the things that i had to put up through," he sighed. He never forgot those nights when Christian used his body like a sex toy. He raped him, he'd just ram himself inside of Chrollo's inside. He reduced him to be a cum dumpster. He would force Chrollo to do whatever he wanted Chrollo to be. If Chrollo said no, he would hit Chrollo, slap Chrollo even choke Chrollo and even someone as powerful as Chrollo could no nothing when he ought to face someone who's stronger and faster(and definitely a lot smarter too) than Uvogin. A pure enhancer in the most ultimate form, Christian _motherfucking_ Archway.

He knew he could never be free of Christian as long as the big blonde man was still alive. The last lover he had before Chrollo was dead when she wanted to run away from him. She was kept in the dungeon, tortured in the most brutal manner, started with series of rape and torture that lasted for months until it broke her and she even tried to killed herself but Christian made sure she became nothing but an empty shell. She still existed in Christian's underground dungeon until then. Chrollo knew exactly that's how he would end if he didn't kill him.

"Do you know that he's also the one behind this mission of getting the power of Watasato?" Chrollo gazed at the young woman. Hidako had guessed it. She knew that it wasn't only that Ekaterina Credence behind this, it also involved that big blond man.

Chrollo suddenly rose up and walked to the small box on top of the coffin.

"Do you want to kill him using these ashes?" Hidako giggled. "Yes and i need you to do that," Chrollo said. "Don't you want to try activating it yourself?You're a Watasatan after all" Hidako sighed. "No, princess, i need you to use your body to distract that bastard and i believe that this ashes mean nothing if you're not a royalty," Chrollo said. "I feel nothing, no energy whatsoever when i touched it," Chrollo added while he put his hand inside the small coffin.

Hidako who became curious, rose up. She walked to the small box on the top of the coffin and put her hand inside it. She could feel a surge of energy. It almost felt the same whenever she was being hugged by her father, the King. There was small amount of ashes left there. The ones perhaps they could use if they could get out of that dungeon. "I believe the ashes could inflict hallucination and something with the heart or the lungs, that caused these people to be dead quick," Chrollo explained. "You're awfully quite, my theory is correct, no?" Chrollo asked the young woman. Hidako only gazed at his doe eyes with hers, she didn't reply him.

Chrollo picked up some of the ashes and put it inside a small bottle he had kept in his pocket. "You should help me in killing Christian Archaway," Chrollo was staring at her. "Why should i help you?" Hidako asked him back. "Do you really think we can get out of here without the help of Christian?" Chrollo asked her. "Illumi might come here to save me," Hidako replied. "It's impossible," he snorted. "I haven't told you that Mrs. Credence said that she was planning to show him the video of us fucking," Chrollo said to the young woman. "Are you serious?" Hidako could feel a thunder grumbling in her head. "I am sure that your husband will never show up," Chrollo said. Hidako fell on the ground. She was hyperventilating, she was in state of panic. He should never know about that moment when she slept with Chrollo. _What will happen to her and their baby? _

"In few hours or in a day, perhaps Christian's men will come here and save us, you will be one of his properties, and now with you being the princess and pregnant at the same time, he will have this crazy desire to fuck you, perhaps with me too, because he's an adventurous guy in sex ... when we're in the middle of fucking, i need you to activate the ashes so they could kill him," Chrollo explained while squatting in front of the young woman who was still in panic state. He rubbed her shoulder and gazed at her with his doe eyes.

"Killing him is the only way out, Hidako," He said to her. "Or else, he'll send you here again in few months to open the coffin again, you'll be his property and perhaps your child too," Chrollo gazed at her.

Hidako was frozen, she was too shocked with the fact that Illumi might leave her. He must leave her. It was hard enough when she was being raped by that butler but at that moment, Hidako remembered that she was fucking with Chrollo with her consent. She wasn't raped, she knew she enjoyed it and Illumi had to witness it.

They were waiting for another few hours, they didn't even know what time it was. Chrollo was walking around the room. from observing the room, thinking that it might have any way out aside from the known door. Hidako just sat there, leaned on the coffin, doing nothing, she was too shocked to even move. Her mind felt like it was being like spun around.

In another few hours, there was still no sign that someone would come there. What surprised Chrollo was that how he could smell blood, fresh blood there. When he looked back, he saw Hidako bleeding, her outfit was covered with blood. The woman didn't say a thing. She had bleeding episode from her vagina. The woman was pregnant but she had to go through the whole thing Credence put her through.

He squatted down and slapped Hidako's face. The only thing he remembered was that she couldn't lose her consciousnes. "Lady Hidako!Hidako! Wake up!" Chrollo yelled at her right beside her ear. She was looking at him, she only blinked at him with her mouth opened.

But, it was right on time. The door was opened. It was him, Christian Archway himself, standing in front of both of them, with his hand bleeding, for the first time in so many years. It was the first time Chrollo saw Christian's hand bled.

* * *

**Author's Note :**

I have to apologise for the extra extra late update. Since, nowadays i ought to work and study at the same time. I feel so touched that there are still people reading this fanfic ;_; thank you very much, Nina, Miran and Dirhhennia Butterfly!

I am very happy every time there are comments here. So, please comment/review some more so i have more motivation to continue writing...


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